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GTA VI launches on

GTA Online Cayo Perico Zombie Survival poster: two characters in Hawaiian shirts firing rifles while surrounded by zombies on the island.

GTA Online: Cayo Perico Survival fills El Rubio’s island with zombies

Cayo Perico Survival is GTA Online’s new Survival mode: ten waves of undead on El Rubio’s island. The enemies, the goal and how to play it.

This article is from August 28, 2025. Some details may have changed since then.

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The most dangerous island in GTA Online just got even less welcoming. Since August 28, 2025, Cayo Perico — drug lord El Rubio’s private paradise from The Cayo Perico Heist (December 2020) — has been overrun by the undead in Cayo Perico Survival, a brand-new Survival mode.

What a Survival mode is

GTA Online’s Survival modes pit a group of players against increasingly brutal waves of enemies in an enclosed map. This one has ten waves, and the end goal is to reach the island’s airstrip and hold out for as long as it takes the evacuation plane to arrive.

Some very peculiar zombies

Rockstar leaned into the island’s tropical-party vibe to create a much stranger horde than usual:

  • Undead conquistadors with muskets, who attack from range.
  • Panther Trainers backed up by their wild cats.
  • Swarms of Splitters that come at you in groups.
  • Zombies still dressed for the party that clearly went very wrong.
A horde of Cayo Perico Survival undead advancing towards the camera: costumed zombies, an armoured skeleton with a rifle and a figure holding an animal-skull staff.

How to play

There are two ways in:

  1. Launch the Cayo Perico Series from your in-game phone.
  2. Head to the palm tree marker in the Terminal area at the Port of Los Santos.

Survival tips

  • Play as a team. Finishing all ten waves alone is very tough; if you have no one to play with, Rockstar’s official Discord is a good place to find a squad.
  • Deal with the musketeers first. The conquistadors punish you from afar while the rest of the horde closes in.
  • Save ammo and armour for the end. Waiting at the airstrip is the tensest part, and the plane takes its time.

If you’re after more of a challenge, GTA Online later added the Mansion Raid Adversary Mode as well.