Starfield is poised to usher in a new era of Bethesda RPGs by taking the studio to an entirely new science fiction universe powered by the new Creation Engine 2. After years of waiting for news, the game finally received a release date at this year's E3 conference, but there is still a lot that fans want to know about the title. Bethesda has tried to set expectations for fans by describing Starfield as Skyrim in space, and Bethesda has started to slowly reveal some more tidbits of information.
Most recently, Bethesda released a look at three of the cities that players can expect to visit in Starfield. There is not much known about the cities as of yet, with each receiving a video around 50 seconds long accompanied by a description of the city and some concept art. The videos did hint a little bit at what players can expect to do in the cities, however, and also pointed toward players being able to venture outside of them and explore their surrounding areas. What all of that will look like remains to be seen, but from what little bit has been shown of the cities, Starfield's locations are starting to give off really strong Star Wars vibes.
New Atlantis Looks Like Coruscant
The concept art of New Atlantis depicts a touring metropolis that is constantly awake with lights and movement. The video also explains that it is run by the United Colonies, Starfield's most powerful faction. This hints at New Atlantis being a seriously massive city, and also seems very similar to Star Wars' Coruscant. For comparison, Coruscant is a city planet that serves as the capital of the Galactic Republic and is an entire planet covered in a singular city. The planet houses trillions of people of all different races and backgrounds, and New Atlantis' video also states that it will be called home to a wide array of different people and ethnicities in Starfield.
Another interesting comparison comes to the origins of both planets. In Star Wars, historians believe that Coruscant was the birthplace of humanity, which is why the planet is largely modeled as a futuristic extension of our real-world metropolises, cultures, and politics. In the video discussing Starfield's city of New Atlantis, the narration says that the city is largely an extension of the real world, and that it is seen by the developers as its futuristic equivalent. This could very well lead to New Atlantis possibly even being the starting point in Starfield since it will likely be the most familiar feeling city in the game, and it will be interesting to see what other influences it takes from the real world in its people and culture.
Neon Looks Like Kamino And Canto Bight
Neon is a particularly interesting city shown off by Bethesda and was originally built as a fishing platform on a nondescript aquatic planet. Obviously, it will only be accessible by one of Starfield's starships. However, the company that founded Neon quickly found that the fish on the planet bore psychedelic properties, and decided to convert the fishing platform into a leisure city where space travelers could go to experience the drug's effect while partaking in every other vice known to man. The city's placement and design seem reminiscent of Star Wars' Kamino. Kamino is an aquatic planet with its civilization being built upon tall platforms to keep them out of the water and was also built as a production-focused settlement, although in its case it was for the production of clones.
However, the newer culture of Neon seems much more similar to Canto Bight, the casino city featured in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Canto Bight is shown as a hot destination for wealthy individuals in the galaxy to go and gamble, watch horse races, drink, and generally celebrate the vast fortunes they have amassed thanks to the war between the Resistance and the First Order. The pleasure-focused appeal of Canto Bight seems very similar to that of Neon, although it is not clear yet who exactly will be the target audience on Neon. Either way, the city seems very interesting and could lead to some great roleplaying opportunities in Starfield.
Akila Looks Like Tatooine
Tatooine is likely one of the most well-known Star Wars planets thanks to how much it is featured across the original six movies of the series. Starfield's Akila looks as though it is attempting to capture the same spirit of a more wild settlement on the outer frontier of space. Akila in particular is located on a hostile planet where its citizens must stay within its outer wall, or else they will likely fall prey to the planet's Ashta, predatorial creatures similar to a cross between velociraptors and wolves. The Ashta are one of the first hints fans have gotten toward's the game's enemies, and provide an interesting hint towards what details the worlds in Starfield may include.
However, the two planets do have some similarities and differences culturally. Tatooine is infamously a haven for outlaws and vagabonds who prefer to lead a more lawless lifestyle. In the prequels, it is even revealed that slavery is not only legal on the planet, but seemingly common. Starfield has not revealed whether or not Akila has legal slavery, but the video revealing the city did detail that its people are dedicated to respecting the freedoms and individuality of every person who lives there. This could mean that Akila is similar to Tatooine's more loose approach to law and order, but would likely indicate that the city is a bit more morally good, ruling out slavery. Akila does seem to stand out a lot from the other Starfield planets that have been revealed thus far, so it does seem like players will see a good amount of variety in the game's locations.
It will be very interesting to see what shape Starfield takes when it finally releases, and what information Bethesda decides to reveal about the game as it approaches its release next year. Hopefully, it is able to live up to the hopes and expectations of Bethesda's many fans. Many of those fans were disappointed that Starfield won't be on PlayStation 5, but the game looks great so far for the players that can get their hands on it.
Starfield releases on November 11, 2022 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.