You're riding through the Tall Trees at night. Everything is quiet. Too quiet. Suddenly, a Bolter lunges from the brush, your horse buckles, and you’re staring down the rotting throat of what used to be a local rancher. We've all been there. It’s exactly why Red Dead Undead Nightmare cheats exist. Sometimes, you just want to mow down a horde of the undead with an infinite supply of fire bottles without worrying about scavenging for herbs or parts.
Rockstar Games has always been pretty generous with cheat codes, but this 2010 expansion to the original Red Dead Redemption handles them in a way that’s a bit of a double-edged sword. You get the power of a god, but you lose the ability to save your progress or earn those sweet, sweet Trophies and Achievements. It's a trade-off. Is it worth it? Honestly, if you've already beaten the main story and just want to cause some chaos in a zombie-infested West, absolutely.
How the Cheat System Actually Works
Let’s get the technical stuff out of the way first. You don't just type these in at a console or push a button combo on the D-pad like it’s the 90s. You have to pause the game, go into the Options menu, and find the "Cheats" section. From there, you press Triangle (on PlayStation) or Y (on Xbox/Switch) to enter the text.
One thing people often forget: case sensitivity doesn’t matter, but punctuation does. If there’s a period at the end of the phrase, you better include it. Once a cheat is entered once, it’s saved in your list forever. You just toggle it on or off.
The "No Save" Warning
The second you toggle a cheat to "On," the game gives you a stern warning. You cannot save. Your auto-save feature is disabled. You cannot earn Trophies. If your console crashes or you quit the game, all that progress is gone. It's a sandbox mode, basically. If you're playing the 2023 port on PS4/PS5 or Nintendo Switch, this rule still applies. Rockstar didn't go soft on us with the remaster.
The Most Useful Red Dead Undead Nightmare Cheats
If you're looking to dominate the apocalypse, some codes are objectively better than others.
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HE GIVES STRENGTH TO THE WEAK
This is the big one. Infinite Dead Eye. In Undead Nightmare, Dead Eye is your lifeline because headshots are the only way to efficiently put down the "Fresh" and "Retcher" types. Without this, you’re constantly hunting for snake oil or chewing tobacco. With it? You’re a supernatural gunslinger who never misses.
ABUNDANCE IS EVERYWHERE
Infinite ammo. Pretty self-explanatory. The game tries to make ammo scarce to build tension, forcing you to loot bodies and clear graveyards. This cheat removes that survival horror element entirely. You can spam the Blunderbuss—which uses zombie parts as ammo—without ever actually needing to harvest a single liver.
THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL, I THANK THEE
This gives you $500. Now, money is less important in the DLC than it is in the base game, mostly because shops are abandoned and the economy has basically collapsed into a "help me and I'll give you bullets" system. Still, it has its uses if you're trying to trigger certain interactions or just want to feel rich while the world burns.
The Weird Ones
Rockstar threw in some stuff that serves no purpose other than pure fun. YOU GOT YOURSELF A FINE BEAST spawns a random horse. If you’re lucky, you might get a decent stallion, but in the Undead world, you're usually better off hunting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse manually. HUMANS ARE STRANGE turns everyone into tiny-headed, big-bodied creatures. It’s creepy. It’s unnecessary. It’s perfect.
The Social Club Controversy and "Obsolete" Codes
Back in the day, some cheats were locked behind the Rockstar Social Club. You had to link your account and complete specific community challenges to unlock things like "Bad Guy" (which granted the highest possible bounty) or "Change Weather."
Fast forward to the modern era. The Social Club integration for the original RDR is a bit of a mess or non-existent on newer platforms. Thankfully, in the newer ports, most of these are either unlocked by default or available via the standard text entry. You no longer have to jump through hoops to turn John Marston into a bearded mountain man or change the sky to a sickly green.
Why Some Codes Won't Work
If you're typing in a code and it’s failing, check your spelling.
- "I'M AN AMERICAN. I NEED GUNS" (Basic weapons)
- "THESE NAMES SHOULD MEAN SOMETHING" (Play as various NPCs)
- "I HUMBLY BESEECH THEE" (Reset bounty)
If you miss a space or a period, the "Cheat Authenticated" message won't pop up. It’s frustratingly precise.
The "Four Horsemen" Shortcut
A common question is whether there's a cheat to instantly get Death, War, Famine, or Pestilence.
The short answer? No.
There is no specific text code that spawns the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. This was a deliberate choice by the developers to keep the "Legendary" rank meaningful. You have to find them in the wild. However, using HE GIVES STRENGTH TO THE WEAK makes capturing them significantly easier. When you spot a mythical creature on the map, you can stay in Dead Eye to clear out surrounding zombies while you maneuver for the lasso.
Death is the best, by the way. It literally makes zombie heads explode on contact. If you find him near Van Horn or Cochinay, drop everything and break that horse.
Survival Without the Codes: A Reality Check
Using Red Dead Undead Nightmare cheats is fun for an hour, but it kills the vibe of the game. The expansion was designed to be a "siege" experience. When you have infinite ammo and invincibility (the "YOU ARE A BEAST" code), the graveyards lose their threat.
If you want the "expert" way to play without cheating, focus on the Phosphorus Bullets. You get these by clearing certain territories. They set zombies on fire, and the fire spreads. It's more effective than any cheat because you can still save your game and keep your progress toward the "Zodiac Master" rank.
Glitches vs. Cheats
Sometimes the game "cheats" for you. There’s a well-known bug in the 1.01 version of the game (and some later versions) where zombies will suddenly lose their heads—literally. They become headless NPCs that wander around, and you can’t kill them because, well, you can’t get a headshot on someone who doesn't have a head.
No cheat code fixes this. You usually have to reload your last save. This is the irony of the cheat system: if you have cheats active, you can’t save, so if you hit a game-breaking bug, you lose everything from that session.
Pro-Tips for Using Cheats Effectively
If you're going to use them, do it strategically.
- The "Photo Mode" Workaround: Since the original game doesn't have a robust photo mode, use the BEASTS AND MAN TOGETHER (spawns a horse) and MAKE HAY (infinite horse stamina) to get to scenic locations quickly. Toggle the "HUD Off" in settings, and you can get some incredible cinematic shots of the apocalypse.
- Trial Runs: Use the weapons and ammo cheats to test out the Explosive Rifle. It’s the most powerful gun in the game but ammo is incredibly rare. Use the cheat to practice the arc and blast radius so when you're playing your "real" save, you don't blow yourself up.
- The Outfit Swap: Use the cheats that unlock outfits just to see which ones you like. Some, like the "Legend of the Apocalypse," actually have gameplay benefits (longer lasting Phosphorus coating). Once you know which one you want, turn off the cheats, reload your save, and earn it properly.
Practical Steps for Your Next Playthrough
Ready to jump back into the madness of New Austin? Here is how to handle the cheat situation properly so you don't regret it later.
- Manual Save First: Before you even think about opening the cheat menu, go to a safe house (like the MacFarlane ranch or Beecher's Hope) and save your game manually. This is your "anchor."
- Pick Your Poison: Decide if you want "God Mode" (Invincibility) or just "Unlimited Resources." Mixing too many can actually make the game glitch out more frequently.
- The Reset: When you're done having your fun, don't just turn the cheats off. Quit to the main menu and reload your manual save. Sometimes toggling a cheat "Off" doesn't fully reset the game's internal flags, which can lead to weird behavior with Trophies later on.
- Focus on Dead Eye: If you only use one, make it the Dead Eye cheat. It transforms the game from a stressful survival shooter into a rhythmic, cinematic action movie.
There's no wrong way to play a decade-old classic, but knowing the limitations of the system saves a lot of heartache. The West is weird enough with zombies; you don't need a corrupted save file making it weirder.
Next Steps:
Go to your manual save file and verify you have at least one slot open. Enter the "HE GIVES STRENGTH TO THE WEAK" code and head to the graveyard in Blackwater. It's the best place to test the limits of infinite Dead Eye against high-density spawns without the risk of losing a long-distance horse trek. Once you've had your fill of the chaos, exit to the menu without saving to keep your completionist run intact.