In Starfield, Neon is the spacefaring equivalent of Vegas, except it’s surrounded by a sea full of psychedelic fish rather than an arid desert. It’s one of four major Starfield cities you can visit in the RPG game, and while we’ve seen plenty of concept art and even some in-game footage of the floating city, there’s still plenty we don’t know about it.
One of the biggest reveals for Starfield yet was during the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase in June 2022, which gave us our first glimpse at a dank, neon-soaked city street. However, we’ve probably seen less of Neon than New Atlantis or Akila City.
So, where is Starfield’s Neon located? What kind of people can be found there? And what does the city offer that the likes of New Atlantis and Akila City do not? Well, we’ve scoured through the limited sources and assembled some informed speculation to let you know what to expect.
Neon location
In terms of the location of the capital city of Neon, it’s unclear which planet it will exist on. We know there are over 1,000 planets to choose from, and eager players have thrown some insight into where they think it may be based.
Speculation on reddit suggests that Neon may well be located in the VOLII system as there’s a hotel called VOLII Hotel that you can see in the showcase footage. Of course, that doesn’t narrow it down to a planet, but it’s a start.
What can you do in Neon?
In a location insights development video for Neon, design director Emil Pagliarulo describes the locale as a “pleasure city”. And there’s a good reason for that.
According to Bethesda, the city of Neon was founded when the Xenofresh Corporation built a giant fishing platform on an aquatic world to catch and sell fish.
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The corp soon discovered a particular type of fish that they were catching had psychotropic properties, so it did the only sensible thing and turned it into a drug called Aurora. Xenofresh realised it could sell the drug for a higher price and with much more ease, so instead turned its focus, and indeed the fishing station, to this.
Aurora is only legal on Neon, so people from across the Starfield universe are said to visit Neon to experience its effects as well as enjoying all the other pleasures the city has to offer.
This luxurious city then functions on tourist trade, and in particular tourists who are off their heads on psychedelics. Of course, lots of tourists means lots of crime and exploitation, and there are a few hints that Neon is one of the most dangerous and corrupt urban areas in the Settled Systems. Even one of the Starfield traits you can choose, Neon Street Rat, says “You grew up on the mean streets of Neon” and increases your crime bounty with any other faction as a result.
That’s everything we know so far about Starfield’s Neon. If you want to know more about two of the other major cities of Starfield, we also have a guide to the reportedly largest city Bethesda has ever built, New Atlantis, and the walled capital of the Freestar Collective, Akila City. Plus, those eager to absorb as much information as is readily available about Starfield, we’ve got a guide to character creation, a list of all Starfield factions. Guides on all 1,000 planets might take us a while, so bear with!
