Four Starfield cities have potentially been revealed - New Atlantis, Akila City, Neon and Cydonia. The first three are each a major location with headquarters for different factions, while the third is an old Mars settlement that fans currently have pegged as a fourth. Obviously there will be cities and settlements of all scales to discover and explore across the galaxy in-game, but only a few have been officially revealed or have any expanded info detailed in Starfield. We've got all there currently is to know on all the cities that have been shown in Starfield, so here's everything we have.
Starfield cities and locations
There are three Starfield cities revealed so far, all big locations in the game, and a fourth potential option:
- New Atlantis
- Akila City
- Neon
- Cydonia
The first three cities serves as a base for one each of the Starfield factions you can join, while Cydonia appears to be a settlement on Mars and an early main mission destination. These are obviously only what's been revealed so far, and while four 'cities' have been promised according to Todd Howard it's unclear if this is the four main locations - with the amount of different Starfield star systems to explore there's obviously going to be a range of bases, settlements and smaller locations to discover.
Let's take a look now at these so revealed locations, and everything we know about them so far.
Starfield New Atlantis
- Faction(s): United Colonies, Constellation
- Planet: Jemison
- System: Alpha Centauri
New Atlantis is bigger than any city in Skyrim, Oblivion, or Fallout, according to Bethesda. Making it the biggest city the studio has ever made. That's fitting for the central capital of the United Colonies, and location for Constellation's headquarters. Early info and concept art make New Atlantis appear powerful, wealthy, and well-equipped, with a distinct military edge. In an official video from Design Director Emil Pagliarulo, New Atlantis is described accordingly:
Pagliarulo: "The city is a true melting pot and its residents come from every race, creed and ethnicity. In a lot of ways, New Atlantis is a true reflection of the future of our world."
Find out all the known Starfield backgrounds and starting skills here!
In an interview with IGN, game director Todd Howard made these comments about the UC's capital.
Howard: "It has all the services you would expect, and you can work on your ship there, the factions touch that(.) But that’s also the headquarters for Constellation, which is the faction that you join that is the last group of space explorers – kind of this NASA-meets-Indiana Jones-meets-The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen [group]."
New Atlantis will clearly be a big location considering Constellation provides the game's main story. So with their headquarters in New Atlantis, not to mention offering a wealth of options for Starfield ship customization, this feels like somewhere you'll almost certainly spend a lot of time.
Starfield Akila City
- Faction(s): Freestar Collective
- Planet: Unknown
- System: Unknown
Akila City is the capital for the Freestar Collective faction. These are frontier separatists, and concept art shows a more ramshackle, industrial settlement on a world with open plains and mountains. However, developer commentary reveals some more details, good and bad.
Pagliarulo: "Behold Akila City, the capital of the Freestar Collective, a loose confederation of three distinct star systems. The city itself is home to a variety of people, but they all have one thing in common: they believe in the sanctity of personal freedom and individuality.
"Akila City is walled for a reason, and stepping outside those walls means facing the deadly Ashta, alien predators that are a cross between a wolf and a velociraptor."
The Freestar Collective are meant to evoke the feeling of classic space westerns, so those hoping to channel Cowboy Bebop, Firefly or even Borderlands might be well-advised to fly in this direction, wherever Akila turns out to be.
Starfield Neon
- Faction(s): Ryujin Industries, Xenofresh Corporation
- Planet: Unknown
- System: Unknown, but possibly Volii
Neon originally started as a fishing platform, built by the Xenofresh Corporation, in the ocean of a "rather nondescript aquatic world". However, after discovering a species of fish with psychotropic qualities, Xenofresh manufactured the substance into a drug called Aurora - legal only on Neon - and the platform has since changed into a glitzy "pleasure city" seemingly halfway between Las Vegas and Cyberpunk's Night City.
Ryujin Industries, one of the game's biggest factions, have built their headquarters here, despite the platform apparently being built by a different megacorporation. Perhaps Ryujin have since acquired Xenofresh? We'll find out soon enough.
Starfield Cydonia
- Faction(s): Unknown
- Planet: Mars
- System: Sol
Lead Quest Designer Will Shen has referred to Cydonia as a "city" in an interview and described it as "one of the early settlements humanity created after they left Earth", adding "it's a whole city with its own problems and people to meet". It's part of the early main quest, and you'll be sent there by Constellation to search out prior details on Earth. Because it's one of the first bases humanity established it's a brutally functional location, largely build underground to escape Mar's harsh climate.
How many Starfield cities are there?
In interviews, Todd Howard has revealed that Starfield will have four major cities. New Atlantis, Akila City and Neon are confirmed to be three of those, but it remains to be seen if Cydonia is officially the forth, or just a large settlement. It's worth noting that the Crimson Fleet Pirates are the only major faction currently without their own city so that's also a possibility.
- Faction(s): United Colonies, Constellation
- Planet: Jemison
- System: Alpha Centauri
- Faction(s): United Colonies, Constellation
- Planet: Jemison
- System: Alpha Centauri
