diff --git a/pkgs/games/crawl/crawl_purify.patch b/pkgs/games/crawl/crawl_purify.patch
index bae82bebfb7..eaff3d74b98 100644
--- a/pkgs/games/crawl/crawl_purify.patch
+++ b/pkgs/games/crawl/crawl_purify.patch
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ index b7e2fbf..5ff23db 100644
  
  ifndef CROSSHOST
 -	SQLITE_INCLUDE_DIR := /usr/include
-+	SQLITE_INCLUDE_DIR := ${sqlite.dev}/include
++	SQLITE_INCLUDE_DIR := @sqliteDev@/include
  else
  	# This is totally wrong, works only with some old-style setups, and
  	# on some architectures of Debian/new FHS multiarch -- excluding, for
diff --git a/pkgs/games/crawl/default.nix b/pkgs/games/crawl/default.nix
index edaa3ef1fcc..18eb50b2815 100644
--- a/pkgs/games/crawl/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/games/crawl/default.nix
@@ -30,10 +30,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
       patchShebangs $i
     done
     patchShebangs util/gen-mi-enum
+    substituteInPlace Makefile \
+      --subst-var-by sqliteDev ${sqlite.dev}
   '';
 
   makeFlags = [ "prefix=$(out)" "FORCE_CC=gcc" "FORCE_CXX=g++" "HOSTCXX=g++"
-                "SAVEDIR=~/.crawl" "sqlite=${sqlite.dev}" ]
+                "SAVEDIR=~/.crawl" ]
            ++ stdenv.lib.optionals tileMode [ "TILES=y" "dejavu_fonts=${dejavu_fonts}" ];
 
   postInstall = if tileMode then "mv $out/bin/crawl $out/bin/crawl-tiles" else "";