With just under three months to go until launch, Starfield hype has reached an all-time high, and a lot of that has to do with the recent gameplay deep-dive. Coming at the end of an already-strong Xbox Showcase this June, Bethesda delivered an extensive 45-minute Starfield gameplay presentation, covering each of the game's core systems and features in quite a bit of detail.
From ground combat, to ship combat, to character customization, to the overarching story, Starfield's gameplay presentation dived head-first into it all, giving fans just more and more reasons to get excited and believe the hype surrounding the game. One of the gameplay presentation's most intriguing segments revolved around all of Starfield's different planets, both those hand-crafted by Bethesda and those procedurally generated, and one of the most mysterious locations was the Red Mile, a location that had a lot of fans speculating.
What Is Starfield's Red Mile?
At around the 10-minute mark in the Starfield gameplay deep-dive, fans got their first proper look at just a handful of the game's planets. Fans are told that the United Colonies are the ruling faction in space, trying to maintain peace across the galaxy. The first planet shown was New Atlantis, the heart of the United Colonies, and the first major colony that humanity established in space. The United Colonies also extend to the Sol System, where Cydonia, a Mars mining facility, is located.
Much like a bunch of other popular Sci-Fi universes, the further out from the center of the galaxy players get, the less regulated those planets will be, with the United Colonies' reach only being so far. Those that aren't part of the United Colonies are known as the Freestar Collective, and Akila City is their capital. Akila City swaps out New Atlantis' hardcore Sci-Fi look for a more Western, Firefly-inspired aesthetic, giving the immediate impression that it's more of a lawless location. Neon is another Freestar Collective system that fans got a glimpse of in Starfield's recent gameplay presentation, with it essentially being a seedy underworld filled with nightclubs, crime, and dark alleys.
Even further outside the center of the galaxy, even past the Freestar Collective systems, are planets that are "unclaimed." With practically no governing bodies or law enforcement this far out in space, these unclaimed systems are home to some of the most dangerous threats in all of Starfield, from criminal gangs to snake-god-worshipping cults. It's right here, on the edges of space, that the Red Mile can be found.
Located in the Porrima system, the Red Mile is shown very briefly in the Starfield gameplay deep-dive. From the outside, the Red Mile looks like a fairly nondescript facility, with its only defining feature being a few antennae and large neon signs that repeat the building's name. On the inside, NPCs are huddled around tables, glued to the monitors built inside of them. On the back wall, there's a large doorway, with the words "run" repeated on every inch of the wallpaper surrounding it.
While some fans initially believed that the Red Mile could be some kind of shady space casino, it actually seems more likely that the Red Mile will be the site of some illegal space races. As players enter the Red Mile for the first time they'll be presented with dialogue from an NPC that asks, "Is this the face of a brave runner ready to challenge the Red Mile?" Based on that phrasing, it seems likely that the Red Mile offers some kind of difficult challenge for the player, and the term "runner" in a sci-fi game setting can often be used to describe someone with a fast ship, so putting the two together, it seems very likely that the Red Mile is home to some dangerous ship races.
Starfield releases on September 6 for PC and Xbox Series X/S.