What You Need to Know About GTA Online's Cayo Perico Survival Mode
On August 28, 2025, as part of the Money Fronts update for GTA: Online, a new mode, Cayo Perico Survival, was released. This is a mini-game that involves fighting zombies on a tropical island. In this article, we will analyze its key features.
How to launch Cayo Perico Survival
- Open the pause menu, then "Network", then "Job". In the list, first select "Start a Job", then "Rockstar Created" and finally "Survival".
- Select a mode and set up a session. Here you can buy armor and weapons, as well as invite friends.
- After launching, you will automatically find yourself on the island of Cayo Perico, next to El Rubio's mansion.
Atmosphere and setting
This mode takes place in the setting of a tropical island, just like in the Dead Island duology. Players find themselves among the jungle, beaches and farms of Cayo Perico, but instead of the usual people, you will find reanimated corpses and other monsters. Among them:
- ordinary zombies;
- dead people who create their own clones;
- armored opponents. They must be destroyed with melee weapons or explosives;
- enemies who use dark magic, for example, calling allies and creating a poisonous cloud;
- "musical" mutants capable of hypnotizing players;
- animals that have fallen under the influence of otherworldly forces. There are wild boars, deer, coyotes and panthers.
Gameplay
The mode is designed for single and cooperative passage of up to four players on the server. Each mission consists of ten waves. They can be perceived as separate stages of survival. They will take place at the El Rubio mansion, in the vineyards and near the port. Using weapons, grenades and Molotov cocktails, which are scattered around the locations, you need to destroy local monsters. First aid kits are used to restore health, two pieces per location. After completing the final stage, you can evacuate by plane or continue fighting in the "Endless Waves" mode. In this case, the difficulty will increase significantly, and zombies will appear everywhere, including on the roads.
In terms of structure and dynamics, the gameplay of the Cayo Perico Survival mode resembles the second Left 4 Dead. Moreover, fighting enemies here is really interesting, because many opponents require an individual approach.
What rewards can you get for participating in the Cayo Perico Survival mode
If you can cope with ten waves of zombies and successfully evacuate, you will be given an exclusive T-shirt called I Survived Cayo Perico Tee. However, it is much more interesting to complete various challenges. For each of them you will receive 800 RP (in-game currency):
- One Of A Kind — destroy all types of special monsters that are in this mode;
- Dancing With Death — dance for 60 seconds to the music of a zombie DJ;
- Sunburned Survivor — survive 15 waves in one game. Of course, to do this, you do not need to evacuate by helicopter, but continue fighting the dead.
Until September 10 inclusive, special bonuses are valid within the framework of this survival mode — a 2x increase in rewards for regular users and a 4x increase for GTA+ subscribers. In addition, for overcoming ten waves of zombies, you will receive a unique Buccaneer suit and 100 thousand dollars.
Is Cayo Perico Survival worth checking out?
In addition to the nice rewards, this mode offers interesting gameplay that seems unusual within the framework of GTA: Online. The effect is comparable to Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, where the usual levels were filled with reanimated corpses and monster animals. In addition, a zombie apocalypse in the hot tropics is still a rare setting in video games. If you are even slightly interested in this topic, be sure to launch Cayo Perico Survival.
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Have you already tried out the zombie mode in GTA: Online? Share your opinions in the comments!
The article was co-authored with Misty.