Undead



The  are enemies found in the Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare DLC pack, and also as character models in Multiplayer.

Characteristics
The Undead, or zombies as they are more commonly called in popular culture, but not referred to as such in single player, are, by definition, a type of living being that has either died and been reanimated by the means of magic, science, or an infectious virus, or remains living but has lost higher mental functions due to any of the aforementioned reasons. This incarnation of zombie spawned when Abraham Reyes discovered an ancient Aztec mask under the Bull Fighting Ring in Escalera. He took it, thinking that it would grant him invincibility and immortality, but instead it turned him into one of the Undead as well as resurrected the dead as far as New Austin and West Elizabeth. The Undead will generally swarm and attack the closest living thing they can get their hands on. They seem to be attracted to sound and fast movement as they are quickly able to determine the location of a discharging firearm.

The Undead will rarely attack one another, but there are exceptions. When playing as an U ndead Character in the single player campaign the Undead will often ignore the player completely or slowly approach the player in a non-threating manner, almost as if it is curious (this only applies to Undead humans). Upon getting in arms reach they will attack but will not sprint and give chase if the player attempts to escape. Sprinting around them will quickly draw more attention to yourself so it is recommended to walk when in their direct presence. Any violent action done in their presence will send them into a frenzy and make them attack the player as they did before the player became undead. Interestingly, undead animals such as wolves will often prioritize a living mount over the undead player and will chase it for quite some time.

Powers
The Undead are immortal due to the fact that they are in the limbo between the world of the living and the world of the dead. They can only be killed by destroying or severing the head, burning them, cleansing them with holy fire, destroying the body itself with an explosive or with the Blunderbuss, or ramming them with the Death horse causing their heads to explode. They act in a primal, savage manner, feasting on the flesh and blood of the living to try and satisfy their seemingly insatiable hunger. The Undead look rotten and decayed, some having exposed bone sticking out of their sickly green to pale gray skin, others missing eyes, ears, teeth, and even whole pieces of flesh. When an Undead bites a living creature, it becomes "infected" with whatever it is causing the dead to come back to life, having only a seconds before dying and joining the ranks of the Undead Horde. Some Undead seem to have some recollection of who they once were, saying things they had when were alive, as seen in the case of some Boss Undead. The things they say, however, are in an eerie, distorted, almost unrecognizable voice. In one case, a zombie prostitue offering her services to a zombie male.

However, it seems that if a person is resurrected from the dead while in possession of a bottle of Holy Water (or presumably anything blessed or holy), they will be resurrected with the rotted body of an Undead, but with the soul and mind of who they were, thus meaning that they mentally are that person, as with the case of John Marston. It is unknown if there are any others of Zombie Marston's kind, but it is presumed that there are no others as none have been found.

It is implied through conversation with Ayauhteotl that the undead are actually acting on their own accord and do not want to go back to being dead. This why a mask must be returned to prevent them from rising from the grave.

Types of Undead
There are four different categories of undead found in the DLC, not counting undead animals.

Characteristics
Traditional undead are typical zombies, but actually quite fast corpses and will make up the bulk of the undead hordes. These zombies seem to be the only kind to be able to grapple John. Possibly because they hold no other special characteristics unlike the other types.

Notable Traditionals:

 * Abigail Marston (Cured)
 * Jack Marston (Cured)
 * Nastas (Possibly Cured If The Player Hogtied Him)
 * Harold MacDougal (Possibly Cured If The Player Hogtied Him)
 * Moses Forth (Possibly Cured)
 * Uncle
 * Luisa Fortuna
 * Herbert Moon (Possibly Cured If The Player Hogtied Him)
 * Abraham Reyes
 * Jonah
 * Vincente de Santa (Boss)
 * Jimmy Saint (Boss)
 * Peter Turner (Boss)

Characteristics
Bolters move about much more quickly by scampering on all fours making them hard to target. Their main attack is biting and clawing at the player in a rapid succesion, making them extremely dangerous when in packs. Bolters appear to be small, and frail looking, and they walk like they have a limp until they see you, ironically making them the slowest Zombie as well if they are on just their legs. They are usually easy to spot from a distance. They emit high pitched screeches.

Notable Bolters:
 * Alma Horlick (Boss; Possibly Cured If Player hogtied Her, Strongest Boss.)

Characteristics
Bruisers are big, fat, and slow, with stamina above other zombie types making them tough to kill. They will also charge at the player from a distance to knock him down. They can be seen pretty easily when within a group of Zombies. It is recommended to try and take them out first since they can knock down Marston quickly making him a meal for any nearby Bolters.

Notable Bruisers:

 * Mordecai Robbard (Boss)
 * Drew MacFarlane (Possibly Cured if the player hogtied him)

Characteristics
Retchers glow green, smell worse than other undead, spit toxic bile at the player, and explode when killed, causing damage to the player (killing the player if playing as undead John Marston) as well as any other Undead or NPCs caught in the blast. They can be found in and around Gaptooth Ridge and most of Mexico.

Tactics

 * The Undead are near invulnerable to damage (you can shoot them repeatedly in the body/limbs for a while and they will die) except headshots, fire, being continuously dragged by the lasso & horse combo, being run over and over and over again by a horse/carriage, Holy Water, or Blunderbuss.
 * Fortunately, the only Undead that have ranged capability are Retchers, meaning that you will not have to take cover.
 * The best way of avoiding Undead is to constantly out run them and use Dead-Eye Targeting to get easy headshots on multiple zombies.
 * The Bolters are the hardest to hit due to their fast speed, so try to save the majority of Dead-Eye for them. Also, Zombies cannot go over obstacles, and they will get stuck in fences. So try to put something between you and them, elevation also works to your advantage, as they cannot climb, so stay on the roofs of buildings.
 * When suddenly attacked by a small number of undead, with no way to escape, it is unwise to waste time reaching for a melee weapon like your Torch, as it is slow and will take a long time to kill the undead. Instead, pull the trigger while they are attacking you and you will automatically hit them with the butt of your gun or perform an Execution, both of which are likely instant kills.
 * This is also a valuable tactic when conserving ammo or on relatively small targets, like Bolters.
 * Going inside of buildings is one of the most dangerous things you can do, especially if you have more than one Zombie. *If you do get stuck in a building, try to find an area that will funnel the zombies into a semi-straight line. Use Holy Water to destroy them group by group. If you do not have any Holy Water though, get out the gun with the highest ammo capacity that you have and use Dead-Eye to target and take them out.
 * Choose your targets wisely. Use your valuable ammo to take out the more powerful Zombies first. The suggested order for a normal situation is BOLTERS - RETCHERS - BRUISERS - NORMAL . Retchers and Bolters can be interchanged depending on the situation. Also, Bruisers are more dangerous in cramped quarters, though Bolters should be priority.
 * Reloading isn't something you want to do while being chased by a certain number of undead. Therefore you should (if the option is avaliable) use dead eye quick, and then turn it off. This way you will approximately reload at less than a second.
 * If you get attacked by a large group of bolters the best way is to hit them with a torch, tomahawk or the back of a rifle

Multiplayer
In Multiplayer there are 8 Zombie player models, they have exactly the same abilities as the normal characters. They also appear as Enemy NPC's in the Undead Overrun gamemode.

You cannot play a zombie character when joining an Undead Overrun gamemode, it will automatically give you a random character from the outfitter depending on what the other players' characters are.

Trivia

 * Walking around with a hogtied Retcher for too long will cause it to rupture, killing the player. This can be negated by setting them on a horse.
 * Players may come across wandering civilians claiming to be sick and requiring a doctor. These troubled folk have been infected and after a short while will fall to the floor and vomit, after which quickly attacking the player. They can be recognized by their obvious pale skin.
 * If the aforementioned civilian is a Lawman or is otherwise equipped with a firearm, he may open fire. Be very careful around these ones, as they can catch the player off guard and kill them within seconds.
 * Also, players may find a woman aproaching an Undead, and saying things like "I thought you were dead!" but they are actualy Undead and will try to infect the woman, if the players stands and watches, she will notice that the other folk was infected but it will be too late, shooting the Zombie will cause the woman to run yelling at John and calling him a murderer, hogtieing the Zombie will cause the woman to act more friendly, noticing that the other folk was infected and thanking John (usually happens after a town is saved).
 * The unusual types of undead (Bruiser, Bolter, Retcher) share a strong resemblance to the Special Infected of the popular zombie apocalpyse game Left 4 Dead 2 (Charger, Jockey, and Spitter, respectively).
 * Undead may retain some human qualities such as lust, as hinted in the opening for the survivor mission, "Biographies and Lies"
 * When a NPC kills a Retcher, it may not explode.
 * From far distances, Undead may appear to look normal, but when you get closer, or kill them, they revert back to the zombie form. This is a distance texture rendering bug which cannot be fixed due to engine capabilities.
 * There is a Retcher character model within the game that bears a resembelence to Irish; grey pants, olive green shirt, messy hair and a full beard. It is likely that this may be him.
 * If being attacked by a group of undead, they may bite. This can be countered by pressing Y (Xbox 360) or Triangle (PS3) at the right time to push it off.
 * Oddly, Marston may know the names of the unusual undead types, as when attacked by a Bruiser, he may yell 'Damn Bruiser!'
 * Although all undad die of a single headshot from the weakest of weapons, Bruisers can be seen with cleavers or tomahawks lodged in their heads.