New Atlantis, Akila and Neon – I visit the largest cities in Starfield – Part II
The world presented in Starfield is huge, but there are a few places that each player will probably visit – these are the three largest cities. The coolest thing about them is that they are significantly different from each other.
The material may contain minor spoilers regarding the location!!!
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Anyone interested in Starfield certainly knows that among the dozens of smaller and larger settlements on the thousand planets shown in the game, the largest are three cities: New Atlantis, Akila and Neon. Each of them has something interesting to offer. It’s time to tell you more about them!
New Atlantis, like Brasília
The first city on our way is, of course, New Atlantis. It is the first city founded on an alien planet by our civilization – established in 2160, it was supposed to become a monument of humanity. And it must be admitted that after another 150 years from that moment, it looks really interesting!
New Atlantis is located on the planet Jemison in the Alpha Centauri system and is the capital of the United Colonies. And I’ll admit right away that it made the best impression on me out of the three.
What’s so special about it? At first glance, you can see that it is inspired by futuristic architecture from around the 1980s. Tall towers, bright colors, numerous protrusions and smooth walls decorated with glass. Write out the NASA catalog from the beginning of the space shuttle launch.
“The Well” is key
Honestly? We’ve seen this vision of the future hundreds of times in pop culture, there’s really nothing there that we haven’t seen somewhere else. In the previous entry about Starfield, I even compared the building from New Atlantis to Thessia from Mass Effect 3.
Despite its lack of originality, New Atlantis has something nice about it. First of all, it has a second face. You must know that the city was originally built from entire elements of colony ships, and the current New Atlantis is simply built on the foundations of the original buildings.
What’s great is that you can visit all these “underground” places! Using the elevator, you can go down to the district called “The Well”, where, apart from the above-mentioned ship elements, all the city’s installations are located. And I think it is the Well that gives New Atlantis its character. Anyone who played KOTOR probably remembers the events on Taris. Where at one point you had to go from the city in the clouds to the underground. It’s a bit similar here.
And at the same time, I treat both the Well and New Atlantis as one place, but with a double face. It worked very nicely, especially the contrast between the futuristic buildings on the surface, which use many motifs of the latest architecture and show it mixed with a NASA-like atmosphere.
Please note that many of the buildings do not have large windows, there are large glass windows in shops or restaurants. But in most cases, the rooms do not have windows. A malicious person will say that these are the limitations of the game engine, but I would look for the achievements of the cosmic civilization that I wrote about previously.
In Starfield’s world , windows may simply be too dangerous to use in most cases. Man, having spent years in space where there are few windows, has perhaps become accustomed to this type of interior?
Monument city
The city was supposed to be a symbol and a monument. The idea of what man can do. And this is also his curse. Why? Because it was built as a monument precisely.
As we walk through it, we see complicated but beautiful paths, impractical approaches instead of shorter stairs. It is a city-monument, a bit like the real capital of Brazil – Brasília. A city built from scratch by the best architects. To this day, it is considered an icon of modernism, but is it comfortable to live in?
On the Internet, I found, for example, opinions that New Atlantis was modeled on Epcot, a project by Walt Disney (yes, that one) that was supposed to present the city of the future. There may be some truth to this statement, especially since Epcot ultimately became nothing more than an amusement park of sorts.
Welcome to Night…, sorry. Welcome to Neon
Neon. Oh, there are many myths about this city, my dears. Oh, many. Before I flew there aboard my trusty Bebop, I had heard a lot about its appearance. Internet users crowed with delight that this was the NightCity killer from Cyberpunk 2077 . That the climate is as thick as the grease from my ship’s hydraulic systems.
And indeed! When I got off the landing pad, I saw a monolith bathed in thick rain with a terrifying face. The feeling of entering the city of sin was intensified by a long platform surrounded by a net.
The beginning was good, but the longer I wandered through the corridors of Neon, the more tired I felt with this place. The city now discussed is located in the Volii system on the planet of the same name. It was originally constructed by the Xenofresh corporation and served as a place to catch fish from which the substance used to create Aurora, a powerful drug, was obtained.
The port was built relatively quickly, in 2187, and during the game it is a hotbed of less legal activities of numerous corporations, gangs and drug addicts. Well, write it down, full cyberpunk.
It is worth noting that the city itself is located in one huge building. And we could compare its layout to a shopping mall. These buildings, if you haven’t noticed by now, are open inwards. Sidewalks, promenades, storefronts, all visible from the inside.
It’s tight…
However, the interior of the city is a bit disappointing. Everything seems to be as it should be. Shops have neon advertisements, there are lots of people wandering around the streets, and the headquarters of interplanetary corporations are full of expensive finishes. And yet, I didn’t feel crushed there. There were no nooks and crannies for me, no places where I could get lost, like in the Well in New Atlantis.
There were places where you could freely visit the floors and even though everything was connected by a corridor, you could get lost there. In Neon, leaving the main promenade will result in loading the next level. Areas not on the main axis of the promenade provide more space, but still do not offer anything interesting. Just cyberpunk standard – neon lights, water vapor rising from everywhere and rain.
…but you don’t feel the cyberpunk stuffiness
I would lie if I said that there are no atmospheric places in Neon. There are a few nice alleys where the lives of poor people broken by Aurora go on, but this is not enough to break the spell of Neon in my eyes. Its biggest advantage was definitely the tasks to be performed, but that’s not what this entry is about.
I know that with this opinion I will offend Neon fans, but I didn’t feel this place at all. Corporate headquarters (e.g. Ryujin Industries) and smaller pubs located in e.g. the Ebbside subdistrict were a plus. A cool motif is a monument placed on the axis of the promenade, preserved in the art deco style. But this is not enough to make you fall in love with Neon!
New Western in Akilia
At one point, I took Sam Coe on board the Bebop, who looked like a Texas Ranger. We went on a mission to the third big city. Akila was founded in 2167, a few years before Neon, and it’s completely invisible. The city located in the Cheyenne system on a planet with the same name as the city – surprises with its style.
It’s a bit like a neo-Western, but without the long street cutting the city in half. Its layout resembles fortified castles, it also had to have walls due to attacks by local fauna. And this outskirts, the upper town and the buildings in the center have their own interesting charm.
The buildings are constructed from a combination of materials imported from outside, but most are encased in local stone. It looks quite cool and creative. Although the street layout is quite simple, the fact that Akila has several levels adds variety.
Moreover, the interior of many of these buildings is made of natural materials, which gives it a taste similar to that of the Constellation headquarters. And I won’t lie, Akila surprised me and made me fall in love most unexpectedly. I just didn’t expect this.
It’s a bit like the wild west in space, and despite some naivety, it somehow seems very authentic.
Constant reading
I have to mention one thing at the very end. This is something I expected before the premiere, but it bothered me a lot before the premiere. Reading levels. I especially felt this technical limitation on Neon, where each task required visiting extremely different areas several times, which resulted in loading.
Honestly, I understand the creators. The enormity of the game is difficult to master. Old engine. I understand all this. But Hogwarts Legacy also came out this year, which also delved into the interior of the famous school, but did it on the fly. And that’s how it should work here.
I know I should have a better computer, but I also played part of the game on Xbox and the problem was the same. I open the door – a few seconds – the screen goes black – a few seconds – a new area. Especially since they are not that extensive.
These loading times did not bother me at all while traveling from the landing pad to the orbit, or between flying from system to system (especially since it is accompanied by a cool animation), but from a small area to a small area? This is a big minus.
I received Starfield for testing from Bethesda!
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