Metro Exodus: The Two Colonels Tips - Flamethrower, Tunnels, and Survival

Metro Exodus: The Two Colonels is a story DLC chapter for Metro Exodus by 4A Games, published by Deep Silver. It is not a standalone Metro game: you need the base game or a bundle that includes the DLC. The chapter follows Colonel Khlebnikov through Novosibirsk, with Colonel Miller later retracing the route, and it plays as a compact, linear return to claustrophobic Metro tunnels rather than one of Exodus’s broader open-area journeys.

Content warning: The DLC carries mature rating descriptors including violence, blood and gore, partial nudity, sexual themes, strong language, and drug-use references. This guide keeps its advice non-graphic and focused on route planning, survival, and completion.

This is a beginner guide for finishing the chapter cleanly. The main route is short, but achievement runs can be more demanding, especially no-medkit completion on Normal or higher and the Blind One dodge requirement.

Essential Tips

1. Treat the DLC as a Linear Survival Route

The Two Colonels is built around a directed story chapter, so progress comes from reading the environment instead of sweeping a large map. Push forward, but do not sprint past interactable tunnel hardware. Red valves, generators, doors, ladders, flooded passages, and workbench rooms are part of the route language.

If you feel stuck, look for what the tunnel is asking you to change: burn growth, drain water, start power, kick through a blocked door, climb after clearing tissue, or return to a previous switch once a generator is active. The chapter is compact enough that the answer is usually nearby.

2. Keep the Flamethrower Ready Before Every Push

The flamethrower is the DLC’s signature tool, not a panic button. You use it to clear membranes and living tissue, open route blockers, and deal with bugs, worms, and other close threats. Before entering a new room or flooded tunnel, make sure it is pumped and ready.

Short controlled bursts are safer than holding the trigger until you are empty. Save enough fuel to clear the next obstruction, because the flamethrower often doubles as both weapon and key. When enemies appear in tight tunnel spaces, kill them quickly, then stop firing and reorient.

3. Use Workbenches Immediately

When you reach a workbench, treat it as a reset point. Clean the flamethrower, craft what you need, and install any attachments you have found. Attachment pickups and workbench use matter during the tunnel route, so do not assume you can safely delay maintenance until later.

Workbench rooms are also a good moment to check whether your inventory plan matches your goal. A normal first clear can prioritize staying alive. A stricter no-medkit run needs more caution, more saving discipline, and fewer rushed fights.

4. Burn Route Blockers Before Hunting for Another Path

The DLC repeatedly uses slime, tissue, membranes, and similar growths as gates. If a corridor looks blocked by organic material, try clearing it with the flamethrower before assuming you missed a side door. GamePressure and TrueAchievements both describe burning membranes or tissue to reveal or open the way forward.

This also applies after you interact with machinery. A generator, lever, or valve may make the next step possible, but the visible route can still need to be burned open before you can proceed.

5. Respect Water and Flooded Tunnels

Flooded passages slow your reactions and can hide the next interaction point. Move deliberately, scan for red valves and ladders, and expect bugs or worms in these spaces. When a route asks you to drain water, do the power and valve sequence instead of forcing movement through danger.

Do not waste fuel firing blindly into every corner. Keep your flame for threats, tissue barriers, and the path forward. If enemies attack in water, focus them down, then stop and re-check the environment.

6. Quick-Save Around Full-Health Milestones

For an ordinary clear, frequent saves protect you from having to replay long story beats. For the no-medkit achievement path, TrueAchievements recommends quick-saving while healthy and reloading if your health drops badly or you die. That approach keeps a mistake from ruining the entire chapter.

Do not save over a bad state during a challenge attempt. Keep saves before major rooms, before boss pressure, and after clean supply resets. If you are only playing for story completion, you can be more relaxed, but the same habit still reduces frustration.

7. Track Diary Pages as You Go

The DLC includes 9 hidden diary pages tied to a completion achievement. Because the chapter is linear and story-heavy, missed pages are easiest to prevent during the first pass through each area. Pause in rooms with desks, cabinets, workbenches, side corners, and bodies before moving through a one-way-feeling route.

This guide does not list exact page locations, so avoid treating it as a collectible route. The important beginner habit is to slow down in readable spaces and check interactables before story momentum pulls you forward.

8. Prepare for the Blind One Like a Pattern Fight

The Blind One encounter is not just a damage race if you care about the dodge achievement. Watch its body language, keep enough distance to react, and be ready to crouch or dodge when it prepares a throw. If you take a bad hit while chasing the achievement, reload instead of forcing a messy finish.

For a first clear, survival matters more than a perfect dodge run. Learn the timing, finish the chapter, and come back with a cleaner route if you want the achievement.

9. Separate Story Completion From Achievement Runs

The Two Colonels is short enough that trying to do everything at once is tempting. That can make the first playthrough worse. Story completion, all diary pages, no medkits on Normal or higher, flamethrower melee kills, and Blind One dodges all reward different habits.

Pick one priority. If you want the story, play carefully and keep supplies comfortable. If you want achievements, set your difficulty and save strategy before you start, then accept that reloading is part of the plan.

10. Expect a Compact Chapter, Not a Full Campaign

The DLC is roughly a few hours long and mostly linear. That shape is a strength if you approach it correctly: steady survival, clear environmental reads, and patient supply use matter more than long-term build planning.

Do not hoard so aggressively that you make every encounter harder, but do not spend fuel or health casually. The chapter gives you a focused Metro route; your job is to keep the route clean.

Flamethrower and Tunnel Priorities

Situation	Best Move	Why It Helps
Organic growth blocks the way	Burn the obstruction in short bursts	The flamethrower often opens the route
A generator is inactive	Search nearby for the working power step	Tunnel puzzles often chain power into levers or drainage
Bugs or worms rush you	Kill them quickly, then stop firing	Saves fuel for the next route blocker
You reach a workbench	Clean, craft, and equip attachments	Prevents avoidable weapon and ammo problems
A flooded path slows you down	Look for valves, ladders, and drainage steps	Keeps you from forcing a dangerous route
You enter a story-heavy area	Check corners before leaving	Diary pages can be missed in linear spaces

Achievement-Safe Habits

If you are chasing no-medkit completion, start on the required difficulty and play around full-health saves. Reloading after a bad room is cleaner than trying to repair a run after using a medkit by reflex. Keep your hands off the medkit input unless you have decided to abandon that attempt.

If you are chasing diary pages, slow down before every transition that feels final. The DLC has 9 hidden diary pages, and the safest beginner rule is to check desks, cabinets, workbenches, bodies, side shelves, and quiet rooms before continuing.

If you are chasing the Blind One dodge achievement, treat the fight as a lesson in tells. Do not stand close out of impatience. Make space, watch the throw setup, dodge or crouch at the right moment, and reload if the attempt is already spoiled.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Rush through tunnel rooms - The chapter uses nearby machinery, valves, ladders, doors, and burnable growths to move you forward.

2. Empty the flamethrower on every enemy - Fuel is also route access, so controlled bursts are safer than panic firing.

3. Walk past workbenches without servicing gear - Cleaning, crafting, and attachment changes are valuable before the next tunnel push.

4. Ignore red valves and generators - These interactions often change flooded routes or blocked passages.

5. Save after a failed no-medkit attempt - A bad save can lock in damage or supply mistakes you meant to undo.

6. Leave diary searching for the ending - The linear structure makes late cleanup less convenient than checking areas as you pass through them.

7. Fight the Blind One without watching its throws - Achievement-safe play depends on spacing and reacting to attack tells.

8. Plan like this is an open Exodus region - The DLC rewards tight route reading, not broad exploration loops.

Summary

Category	Top Tip
Route	Follow the linear path, but inspect machinery and blocked passages
Flamethrower	Keep it pumped, use short bursts, and save fuel for route blockers
Workbenches	Clean, craft, and equip attachments as soon as the game allows
Collectibles	Watch for the 9 diary pages during the first pass through each space
Achievements	Separate story completion from no-medkit and Blind One challenge runs
Difficulty	Beginner completion is manageable, but achievement constraints raise the pressure