Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is reviving a beloved feature with its Season 4 update on May 29, 2025, the return of Grief mode for Zombies. Introduced in Black Ops 2, Grief mode was a fan favorite twist on the classic co-op zombie survival experience. Now, more than a decade later, the mode is back with major upgrades and a competitive twist that reimagines how players interact with the undead.
Unlike the standard cooperative model in which players work together to kill waves of zombies, Grief mode creates a team vs. team situation. There are two groups of four players in the same zombie-filled arena, and while they cannot hurt each other directly, they can get in each other’s way in passive-aggressive ways. Body-blocking, melee fights to impede opponents’ progress, and using guns to cause distractions are all permitted. You have to be the last team that hasn’t fallen. If the four players of a team are eliminated, they lose the game. If a team gets wiped out, they will be resurrected after three rounds, hoping to have a chance at a comeback.
To spice things up further, Grief mode features Capture Zones that spawn during the match. Teams that venture into these zones and accumulate enough kills can create a “Grief” effect, which places a temporary debuff on the other team. If neither team controls the zone quickly enough, both teams are penalized. These Grief effects are different and bring a strategic element to the game. For example, the Weapon Nerf drastically minimizes how much damage a team can inflict on zombies, while the Ammo Drain slowly drains ammunition from every weapon, even those not being used.
Another version, Zombie Ambush, calls in a highly damaging elite zombie that attacks only the enemy team until defeated or a timer runs out. There’s Weapon Carousel, which interchanges players’ weapons randomly every few seconds, and Frozen, which slows down movement speed and freezes characters.
Maps employed in Grief mode are all sourced from current Zombies content, but are strategically split into smaller arenas to keep opposing teams close together. Doors unlock automatically, power is activated, and any gameplay item or machinery that is not natively present in the arena will become visible in new places.
Liberty Falls, for instance, has two separate arenas: one has the Pump & Pay, Motor Lodge, and Fuller’s Liberty Lanes, while the other has the Dark Aether Church, Cemetery, and Hilltop. In the same way, other fields cover Terminus, Citadelle des Morts, The Tomb, and Shattered Veil, each with several zones full of strategic significance and familiar points of reference.