In Der Riese as well as all of Black Ops, Black Ops II, and Black Ops III there can only be 24 zombies on the map at one time, with new ones respawning as the ones currently present are killed.

An all new mode called 'Hostiles' has been added, in which the player is pitted against 4 different waves of enemies. Nihilistic has confirmed that a Zombies mode would not be included with the game at launch. During Gamescom 2012, when Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified was shown, the graphics were criticized.