The revelation of Abby's background has been moved forward. The audience is directly told at the beginning that she is hunting Joel. In the game, Abby first appears in the timeline of the last scene of the series, where she and her companions find Jackson Town in the snow-capped mountains. At that time, players did not know who Abby was or her purpose.
In addition, Abby's physique has been adjusted. In the game, Abby is a strong woman who can bench press 180 pounds, but the series chose the slender Kaitlyn Dever to play Abby. However, the film crew explained that Abby was designed that way in the game to differentiate the gameplay experience from Ellie's, which is not a consideration for the TV series.
A large number of original plots have been added to Jackson Town, such as the council discussions and Joel seeing a psychologist.
Eugene is only a background character in the game, a former teammate of Tommy's in the Fireflies. Later, Ellie and Tina find his leaf farm in the wild, where an important plot unfolds.
The series supplements Eugene's story, revealing that he was killed by Joel (the reason is currently unknown), while in the game, Ellie and Tina say he died of a stroke.
Tina's love for electronic devices is a fleeting setting in the game, where she fixes a broken radio by herself. In addition, her interactions with Joel are relatively few, but she is portrayed much more prominently in the series.
The plot of Tommy and Ellie going out on patrol is a memory from two years ago in the game, and it takes place in autumn rather than winter.
In the game, Tina and Ellie go out on patrol alone, and the animal killed by the infected is a moose rather than a bear. This change may be because the current season intends to emphasize that the infected's combat effectiveness is gradually evolving, thus depicting the scene of them killing a bear.
The series has significantly altered the plot of Tina and Ellie searching the supermarket. In the game, Ellie and Tina do not challenge each other to stab the infected with a knife, and Ellie does not encounter an intelligent infected (a similar monster called a stalker appears in the game) in the supermarket.
The dance at the end is an important scene in the game, with the dialogue between Ellie and Tina almost reproduced verbatim.
However, unlike the series, the complete plot about the dance in the game is revealed in the last scene, as a memory symbolizing that Ellie has reconciled with Joel. The series has adjusted it to the first episode, perhaps to allow the audience to accept the relationship between Tina and Ellie more quickly.
The mycelium entering Jackson at the end is an original plot in the series. The opening plot of the second episode is expected to be significantly revised. In the game, the infected gather in the nearby snow-capped mountains and do not approach the town.