Dating sim aficionados will already be well-aware that the “childhood friend romance” trope is the way to bait your hook if you want players to flock to a certain character’s route. Which is why it’s honestly kind of surprising it took Love and Deepspace until Version 3 (released in January 2025) to let you romance Caleb, the player character’s beloved oldest friend, despite him being introduced as an NPC quite early on.
Caleb is the fifth love interest to join LaDS’ intrepid roster of space hero husbandos, and while there’s a lot to love about Zayne, Xavier, Rafayel, and Sylus, it’s easy to see why the prospect of romancing dreamy boy-next-door turned ace-fighter-pilot Caleb has won so many players over. If you’re keen to take things to the next level, we’re here to help with everything you need to know about how to unlock Caleb in Love and Deepspace.
How to unlock Caleb in Love and Deepspace
Although you meet Caleb less than halfway through the first chapter of LaDS’ main story, you in fact need to advance quite a way further if you want to go on dates or interact with him in Destiny Café. It may seem a bit counterintuitive, but despite getting to know him early on, you can’t actually unlock Affinity with Caleb until you reach the game’s fourth chapter, Homecoming Wings.
If that sounds like it’s going to take ages, don’t worry, it’s not all bad news. First off, the game’s third main chapter is comparatively short, and serves as more of an interquel between the second and fourth chapters that accompanied the Version 2 and Version 3 updates, respectively.
Secondly, unlike the last new love interest that LaDS introduced, you don’t need to get very far into the chapter for Caleb to unlock: he becomes available after you complete the third story sub-mission of Vanishing Skyward, the new chapter’s first mission. So no need to wait until the very end of the story to start cuddling up to Caleb.
And as ever, LaDS does give you the option to skip to the Homecoming Wings chapter if you’re feeling impatient to get to Caleb; although just like with Sylus’ introduction in Version 2, we don’t recommend this unless you really, really don’t care about story spoilers.
How to unlock Caleb’s Memories in Love and Deepspace
The good news for players who want to begin collecting Caleb’s cards right away is that his Memories are unlocked in the gacha and as part of event rewards for everyone following his introduction, so you can begin fighting side-by-side even while you’re still in the prolonged story-enforced friendzone of Chapters 1-3.
If you’re keen on collecting Caleb’s Memories as soon as possible, be sure to check out our Love and Deepspace codes page for a regularly-updated list of all the freebies you can currently claim!