Yes, GTA Online Has Zombies, but Only When Halloween Comes to Town
GTA Online has two official zombie modes: the Ludendorff Cemetery Survival in North Yankton, added in October 2024, and the Cayo Perico Survival, added in August 2025. Both are wave-based Survivals against the undead.
The honest catch is availability. Neither mode is a permanent fixture of the game; both are seasonal content built around Halloween, and they leave again when the season ends.
This guide covers what each mode involves, what it pays, when you can actually play it, and how to get an undead fix during the rest of the year. Everything here is about the current game; the separate question of zombies in the next game is covered by our GTA 6 zombie mode explainer.
Key Takeaways
- Ludendorff Cemetery Survival launched on October 10, 2024, and was GTA Online's first playable return to North Yankton.
- Cayo Perico Survival launched on August 28, 2025, bringing eight undead types to the island, including undead conquistadors and zombie DJs.
- Both modes are wave Survivals: clear ten waves to complete them, then extract or push into endless waves.
- Both are seasonal. They arrive for the Halloween period and leave afterwards; at the time of writing, in November 2026, the Halloween 2026 run has just ended.
- Player-created Survivals using the Survival Creator's zombie enemies are available all year round.
1. Ludendorff Cemetery Survival: Zombies in North Yankton
The Ludendorff Cemetery Survival arrived on October 10, 2024, as a Halloween continuation of the Bottom Dollar Bounties update. It is set in the church and cemetery at Ludendorff, in North Yankton.
That location is the headline in itself. North Yankton had been seen in the story prologue and little else, and this mode marked GTA Online's first playable return to the snowy state.
The format is a wave Survival. You and your team hold the cemetery against ten waves of undead, with an endless option for players who want to keep going after the tenth wave falls.
The undead come in five types: standard zombies plus fiery, explosive and armored variants, and mage types that complicate a simple hold-the-line plan. Hulking juggernauts and possessed animals, including deer, coyotes and boars, round out the threat.
The mode was an immediate hit. Reported figures put more than 400,000 players into it within its first 24 hours, and Rockstar ran a community challenge built around the total zombie kill count.
That challenge showed the scale of the response. Players collectively defeated more than 500 million zombies across the mode's original run, passing the challenge target many times over. For a seasonal mode in an eleven-year-old game, those are remarkable numbers, and they explain why the Survival has returned every Halloween since.
Survival veterans should feel at home with the rules: limited lives are not the issue, positioning and ammo are. The cemetery's walls and the church give natural chokepoints, and the armored and explosive types punish teams who bunch up in the open.
Completing all ten waves earned the Ludendorff Survivor Outfit during its runs. The mode fits the same update family as the Bail Office content, arriving a few months after that property launched.
2. Cayo Perico Survival: The Undead Take the Island
Cayo Perico Survival arrived on August 28, 2025, as part of the Money Fronts update's follow-up content. It takes the island from the Cayo Perico Heist and fills it with the undead instead of El Rubio's guards.
Eight undead types appear here, a bigger roster than Ludendorff's. There are undead conquistadors armed with muskets, Panther Trainers with their feral pets, swarms of Splitters, juggernauts, zombie DJs and possessed animals including boars, deer, coyotes and panthers.
The structure follows the same ten-wave format. After clearing wave ten, the host chooses: extract by Velum from the island airstrip and end the run, or continue into endless waves and see how long the team survives.
Fighting moves between familiar island ground, including the Compound, the Main Dock, West Beach and the North Dock areas, which gives the mode a very different feel from the tight cemetery.
Its launch window paid double GTA$ and RP, with the I Survived Cayo Perico Tee for playing and the Buccaneer Outfit plus GTA$100,000 for completing all ten waves. Those specific rewards were tied to the launch window, so do not expect them in every return.
The extraction choice gives the mode a different rhythm from Ludendorff. On the island, wave ten is not really the end; it is a decision point. Casual teams take the Velum and bank the completion, while confident teams treat the endless waves as the real game and measure themselves by how deep they get.
The open ground changes tactics too. Where the cemetery rewards holding one tight position, the island areas are spread out, sightlines are longer, and the possessed panthers punish anyone who camps in the open without watching the flanks.
The mode returned during the following Halloween period at boosted rates, following the same seasonal pattern as its North Yankton predecessor.
3. When Are the Zombie Modes Actually Available?
This is the part most guides skip: neither Survival is permanently available. Both were built as Halloween content, and Rockstar switches them on for the season and off again afterwards.
Ludendorff Cemetery Survival's first run lasted from October 10 to November 6, 2024. It returned from October 23 to November 5, 2025 at triple rewards, and again for Halloween 2026 at triple GTA$ and RP through November 4, 2026.
Cayo Perico Survival debuted earlier in the calendar, on August 28, 2025, returned briefly from October 2 to 8, 2025 at double rewards, and was active again across Halloween 2026 at triple rewards through November 4, 2026.
So at the time of writing, in mid-November 2026, both modes have just left the game again. The realistic expectation is another return next Halloween, but Rockstar has announced nothing, and that should be treated as an expectation, not a promise.
If you missed this year's run, the wait is the price of the format: these modes are events, and like the game's other seasonal content, their scarcity is exactly what makes each return feel like an occasion worth logging in for.
Event weeks decide the exact dates each year. Our weekly reset guide explains how Rockstar's Thursday event weeks work, which is where returns like these are announced.
One nearby mode deserves a clarification: the Alien Survivals, including Project 4808, are about aliens, not zombies. They are excellent wave content, but they are a different flavour of chaos.
4. How to Get Your Undead Fix the Rest of the Year
The official Survivals may be seasonal, but zombie content itself is not locked away for eleven months of the year. The Survival Creator is the reason why.
Halloween 2024 added zombies to the Survival Creator's enemy options, letting players build their own undead wave jobs. Rockstar's October 2025 Newswire confirmed players can also add Island Zombie Shamblers and Runners to their own Survival Creator jobs.
That means community-made zombie survivals, including recreations inspired by Ludendorff and Cayo Perico, can be played at any time of year. Search the Social Club jobs for recent, highly rated creations.
Finding them is straightforward. Player jobs can be browsed and bookmarked through the Rockstar Social Club website, then played from the Jobs menu in game, and popular creations are also scattered around the map as job markers during the off-season. Ratings and play counts are a decent guide to which ones are worth your time.
The better creators copy the official recipe closely: a tight arena, escalating waves and chokepoints that reward a team holding its ground. A good community survival can feel surprisingly close to the real thing, even if the pay and the outfits are not the same.
Playing player-created jobs pays standard job rates rather than the boosted event rates, and completion does not grant the modes' special outfits. Those stay exclusive to the official runs.
The practical advice is simple. When Halloween comes around, prioritise the official Survivals early in the event window, earn the limited rewards, and enjoy the boosted pay. When the season ends, the Creator keeps the undead shambling until next year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does GTA Online have a zombie mode?
Yes, two of them. The Ludendorff Cemetery Survival and the Cayo Perico Survival are official wave-based modes against undead enemies. Both are seasonal Halloween content rather than permanent modes.
Where is the Ludendorff Cemetery Survival set?
In the church and cemetery at Ludendorff, North Yankton. It was GTA Online's first playable return to North Yankton, the snowy state from the story mode prologue.
When was Cayo Perico Survival added?
August 28, 2025, as follow-up content to the Money Fronts update. It brings eight undead types to Cayo Perico, including undead conquistadors, zombie DJs and possessed panthers.
Are the zombie modes available all year?
No. Both Survivals are switched on for the Halloween season and removed afterwards. Ludendorff first ran from October 10 to November 6, 2024, and both modes most recently ran through November 4, 2026.
How many waves are in the zombie Survivals?
Ten waves complete each mode. After wave ten in Cayo Perico Survival, the host can extract by Velum from the airstrip or continue into endless waves. Ludendorff also offers an endless option.
What rewards do the zombie modes give?
Standard Survival pay, boosted during event runs: Ludendorff paid triple rewards in its 2025 and 2026 returns. Completing ten waves earned the Ludendorff Survivor Outfit, and Cayo Perico's launch window offered the Buccaneer Outfit and GTA$100,000 for a full clear.
Can I play zombie content outside Halloween?
Yes, through the Survival Creator. Zombies, including Island Zombie Shamblers and Runners, are available as creator enemies, so player-made undead Survivals run all year. They pay standard rates and do not grant the official modes' special outfits.
Are the Alien Survivals zombie modes?
No. The Alien Survivals, including Project 4808, feature aliens rather than the undead. They share the wave Survival format but are separate content.
Do I need to own Cayo Perico content to play Cayo Perico Survival?
No property purchase is tied to the Survival itself; it is a job, launched like other Survivals when the mode is active. Owning the Kosatka for the heist is a separate thing.
Will the zombie modes come back?
Nothing has been announced. Both modes have returned for each Halloween since their debuts, so a return next October is a reasonable expectation, but Rockstar has not confirmed dates.
In Short
GTA Online's zombies are real, official and great fun, but they keep Halloween hours. Ludendorff's cemetery and Cayo Perico's island each offer ten waves of undead, special outfits and boosted pay while the season lasts.
Miss the season and the Survival Creator keeps you supplied with community-made undead jobs until the official modes rise again next October.
