Summary
Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmareis fondly recalled as a top-tier package for the originalRDR,and one of the best DLCs produced to date. Coming at a time when DLCs and related extra content were still in an earlier era,Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmareprovided a significant breadth of additions and new spins on the setting and characters of its world, “zombifying” its inhabitants and locations, including protagonist John Marston and his close-knit group of friends and family, along with a lengthy supernatural-tinged storyline.
Featuring a mix of the macabre and developer Rockstar’s trademark humor,Undead Nightmarewas highly liked by fans, as the entire concept seemed to fit well with the Weird West elements already present in various ways throughoutRDR.Undead Nightmarealso gave players new mechanics and expanded on other aspects, creating a fresh and fun take on the base game. As Rockstar is now working on its next major title,Grand Theft Auto 6,with last year’s official reveal trailer for it setting new records, fan expectations and hype have spiked even more. With all this in mind, there’s reason to hope that anUndead Nightmare-like experience could eventually see the light of day inGTA 6.
Grand Theft Auto 6is currently in developmentand is confirmed to be released in 2025 as of now.
Undead Nightmareleaned further into absurd humor even beyond such moments and scenes in the main campaign but still contained darker undertones. The DLC lets players loose as a zombie Marston who also has to solve the otherworldly mystery that brought on the catastrophe. As returning characters were shown their own various predicaments in the apocalyptic version of the world,Undead Nightmarealso gave players fun new toys, such as the four horses of the apocalypse that could be tamed and ridden.
SeeingRDR’s world teeming with hordes of zombies in a supernaturally altered landscape was a treat and a thrill, andUndead Nightmarewas received and remembered as an excellent codato the first game. Its popularity has never really waned in the years since, and fans continue to enjoy what it has to offer, often hoping to see it make a comeback in subsequent titles in some form, though this has yet to happen.
Red Dead Redemption 2stealthily referencedUndead Nightmare, but never followed through on the promise of a second full expansion. InGrand Theft Auto 5,there isa series of optional collectibles in the form of peyote plants that fans can discover. By finding and ingesting the reality-altering substance, players can enter into psychedelic trips that briefly change their perspective dramatically and humorously. While using such substances is in many ways the bread and butter ofGTA,it might also be what allows anUndead Nightmare-style experience to make a return inGTA 6.
Using a similar framing device might allow the outlandish scenario of zombies rampaging throughGTA 6’s Vice Cityto occur and still maintain overall cohesion. The spectacle of undead hordes roaming and ravaging its neon and palm tree-laden locales would certainly be a sight to behold, and likely welcomed by fans. Even if it’s not explicitly “Undead Nightmare 2,” but something that takes inspiration from it and more substantially references or perhaps even includes direct content with a larger series of actual missions rather than just a slight nod, it would be a fun way to give players an updated version and offer an adjacent experience. Though it remains to be seen if Rockstar is interested in revivingUndead Nightmarein some way forGTA 6, tying the studio’s twin franchise pillars together with a creative spin on a cherished piece of content that many have been craving to see again would surely surprise and please its legion of fans.
