The National Aeronautics and Space Administration – or NASA, as it’s more commonly known – wants to know why the millions of us obsessed with Starfield haven’t applied to “be a NASA intern” yet.
In a viral update posted to Instagram, NASA shared a space-themed cat meme with the legend, “Watching you play Starfield after not applying to be a NASA intern”.
The caption says: “NASA: We’ve got space at home” and then tries to translate our current fascination with the stars into a recruitment drive for the NASA specialists of the future.
“Spaceships – Check. Exoplanets – Check. Crews – Check. Missions – Check. Consider applying for our Summer 2024 internship session.”
NASA made a Starfield post and it currently has over 4 million views from r/Starfield
With so many players engrossed in Starfield, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the recruitment team wants to capitalize on our current fascination with the stars. And while some players found the promotion a little tasteless, most took it in good humor.
“Planets irl are even more barren, no thanks NASA!” said one player when the reel was shared on the Starfield subreddit.
“The immersion of actual space exploration is so shite!” added another.
But the response I think most of us can relate to?
“I am totally unqualified and probably too old to start going down that road,” admitted another one. “The game is the closest I’ll ever get. Let me have my fun NASA.”
TRG’s Editor-in-Chief Jake reckons “Starfield is a technically solid systems-heavy role-playing game that works well with a surprising degree of polish compared to previous Bethesda RPGs,” but added that “despite this, Starfield has no sense of character and the story lacks impact”.
Awarding it 4 stars out of 5 in our Starfield review, we praised its “endless amount of things to explore”, deep skill system, and excellent starship combat, but thought its middling ground combat, patchy writing and “soulless” feel held it back from a 5/5 score.
If you’re still not sure, don’t forget that you can try Starfield yourself for no extra cost if you subscribe to Xbox Game Pass.
Last week we learned that Starfield includes a bittersweet tribute to a long-time fan who never got to play the game. App developer Alex Hay had been “following the [Starfield] project for years”, but realized that the sci-fi adventure’s final delay, announced earlier this year, likely meant he’d never get to play it as he’d been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
Whilst there was no public response from Bethesda, a fan who remembered Hay’s post recently found a note from him within the game itself.
“To all my friends and fellow explorers,” the note – which is entitled “Alex Hay’s Note” – begins. “I’m always with you, out there in the starfield. Love always, Alex Hay.”
For more games to get lost in, check out our picks of the best RPGs, alongside our list of the best single-player games.