Docked is Saber Interactive's most focused simulator yet

I can’t say I’ve wanted to be a dockworker, mainly due to the fact I’ve never lived near water for a majority of my life. But in Saber Interactive’s Docked, you get to run the day-to-day and operate heavy machinery of a port. Yet another niche job simulator for these folks, but this time it’s much more focused and it has all the hooks to keep you going, optimizing for profit, and in awe of moving massive macherinery to get the job done. Docked is a port sim with a surprising amount of fun and engaging activities for what is very technical and difficult work.

First was handling complex off-road jobs through SnowRunner and Expeditions: A MudRunner Game. Then came the task of rebuilding with roadwork machinery in RoadCraft. Exploring the shallow waters dockside is Docked, a very competent and entertaining in Saber’s simulator series. You play as Tommy, who’s come home to Port Wake after a long time away to work for his dad, but disaster strikes. Docked starts off with you rushing off to a crane to get some containers to safety before a hurricane hits. In the aftermath, the dock is left in disarray and it’s up to you to fix it and restart the infrastructure while unpacking your sorded history.

In a surprising move, Docked is not a game that can be played co-op, this is a decidedly singleplayer game. And in a lot of ways, is for the better. I personally wouldn’t want to coordinate operating several machine on a dock with another player or more. That said, the game is built around being a single-player experience, and everything feels manageable as you work to fix, improve, and expand the port to be more successful than it ever was before. There are both first and third-person cameras to choose from to give you the best view for the blue collar job at-hand.

In running this new business you’ve been handed, you’ll have the port map which shows everything you own or are yet to. You’ll start from the shipping line and expand to the shipping office, multiple yards, parking lots, a power plant, and a gas station. Each of with brings unique jobs and challenges. Progression feels properly gated by a lack of funds along with a lack of skill in handling certain machines. By the time you’re ready to expand to a new area, you’ve gotten accustomed to certain controls like they are muscle memory.

Taking on jobs are everything, as you’ll have quotas to reach, and daily limits in how much you can accomplish. Everything is tracked in how much Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (or TEUs) you can move. You’ll have to be smart which ones you take, trying to maximize profit, earning the most materials, and ensuring you reach your quota for possible bonuses. While on the job, you’ll have to be aware of your surroundings and know your equipment. Because it is possible to incur damage on the cargo you’re moving. Now, you can restart a job rather easily, and if you cause 100% damage, your day will be restarted for you. Overall, each job is not too time consuminng, as some jobs go really quick. In fact there will be moments where you go “that was it?” as you’re whisked to the menu to start the next job. It at least doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Running a business means making money, so obviously operating in the red is discouraged, and have to offset your spending. In addition to the jobs, there are orders which allow you to setup logistical chains to build up resources of all kinds. This can be a domino effect of being able to steamroll completed jobs into upgrades and expansions that let you do more while increasing your fleet size. As you achieve successes, there are milestones which serve as checklists to help guide your progression. Completing milestones are a great way to earn bonuses in materials and cash to have a surplus. The managerial aspect is not very deep, and it being surface level means you are confident in engaging with it and just becoming better at running a port.

To do the more complex jobs, you’ll have to purchase all kinds of vehicles for your aforementioned fleet. There are small cranes that just move things ship to shore, stackers that well, stack containers, carriers to move things across distances, tractors to pull trailers and other cargo, medium cranes for heavier objectives, and then finally large cranes which are able to lift trains. The game starts with impressive heavy machinery to learn and work with, and Docked finishes with incredible heavy machinery to work with.

On Windows, even with every setting set to the max, this game runs really well, often over 120fps. This is in part to the playable map being smaller than other games from Saber Interactive. The game is able to achieve this despite not having any DLSS or FSR options such as Frame Generation or Reflex. I tried this on Linux and things weren’t as great, but staying above 60fps in most cases; though I had to lower it to the ‘Medium’ preset, and even then it didn’t look muddy or blurry. Docked maintains a really sharp look that shows how well this game optimized and scalable, no matter the operating system.

Only sickos would want to come home after a long day at their place of employment to go to their PC or console to do more work, but you know who you are. Across the 15-hour campaign, you’ll get to see and do things that become second nature and you feel your skills improve in tune with your progression. The lack of co-op doesn’t feel lacking, this is a different kind of game that’s focused and deliberate. Docked is a contained experience that makes a splash by balancing challenge and reward equally.