Glaring Differences Between HBO Max ‘The Last of Us’ Series and the Original Game’s Opening Scene

HBO Series The Last of Us has stepped into the community with an enriched adaptation of the groundbreaking video game title. With all ingredients of the perfect masterpiece put in with great efficacy, the series grips you by the spine and takes you on a thrilling journey. Surprisingly, the series elongates the story shown in the video to firmly grip the viewers in comfort, drawing respective differences.

The series has marvelously gathered over 10 million views and that too alone in the US. And this is about the figures for two days and only the future holds how many more views will the series get. Meanwhile, it surely gives a record-breaking performance. And evidently, a much-elaborated perspective of its video game.

Now, if you haven’t played the game or seen the first episode of the series, there could be jaw-dropping spoilers ahead. As a disclaimer, this article deals with the opening scene of the game and the series. If not seen or played yet, experience the opening scene and come back and see if the differences below were noticed or not by you.

The Last of Us series has certain differences compared to its video game adaptation

In the game, the first scene that the player sees is the calmness in the lives of Joel and his daughter, Sarah. This turns into a gloomy one as the night progresses, the radio announcements, the news on TV, and the sudden attack of the infected person on the two. The game then takes the players to the chaotic roads, the instance of Joel leaving a family on the road unattended in the doubt of them being infected.

And as the events unfold, Joel meets a soldier who doubts them being infected and leads to killing Sarah. But Joel gets saved by his brother Tommy and lives ahead, but a part of him dies with her daughter.

While this sense mirrors the series adaptation, the viewers experience it from the perspective of the audience. Void of the controls of their characters, unlike the video game, the viewers see what is shown to them. And this becomes a fruitful opportunity for makers to show an in-depth projection of Joel and Sarah’s relationship that becomes the groundwork of the series.

The first episode starts with an interaction between scientists on a talk show talking about the fungus. But then the series focuses on the opening scene, showing the relationship between Joel and Sarah. This makes the viewers seated in a homely environment, a calm day until the chaos enters without any prior warning.

The opening scene shows a new day, Sarah waking up her dad and making him breakfast, followed by events like them eating breakfast, Sarah taking money to repair his father’s watch, and later offering him it as his birthday gift, the appearance of Tommy shows the relationship that he has with his brother Joel and their interaction with neighbors. Whereas, in the game, the players are straightaway taken to the night scene.

As dusk nears, Sarah repairs the watch but is pushed out of the shop as the outbreak has commenced. And this is when the abruptness, prior to the outbreak, hits Sarah and the viewers, leaving a question of what is happening. Sarah and Joel end the day with a movie, but Joel leaves midway as he goes to bail Tommy out of jail.

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He puts Sarah to bed before going out. Now all of this isn’t shown in the game and that’s where the magic happens because this, as said above, already grips the viewers seated in comfort. As grim as the chaos looks, the more it entices curiosity. Sarah finds out the neighbor is infected, her first encounter with the infected person, unlike the way in the game.

The aftermath and the chaos of the outside world as shown in the series

Joel, Sarah, and Tommy drive out of town but face hurdles, the crowd, the infected people, and at last the soldier. The soldier’s body language shows that of one who is in doubt about actually killing the father and daughter, but had to abide by the orders.

Hence, he kills Sarah, and apologizes for doing it, but gets killed by Tommy before killing Joel. Her daughter’s death causes Joel distress, and the shock deepens for now the viewers cannot span their view, they have to see and absorb what is shown, and all that is seen is Joel’s pain and restlessness to save his daughter.

And this becomes almost half of the series’ episode while in the game it is shortened into almost a 15-minute scene starting straight from the night, unlike the series that showcases the day as well. The breakfast scene, the repairing of Joel’s watch, the first encounter with an infected person, Tommy’s introduction, and bailing him out of jail, and others that are given above are scenes shown in the series only. But both the video game and the series grip their audience in their own manner.

Craig Mazin, The Last of Us showrunner, admitted this elaborative groundwork of Joel and Sarah’s relationship, which fuels the story ahead, to be something as a great opportunity to explore more about Sarah and Joel’s relationship. To know more about the behind-the-scene of the opening scene of the HBO series and the video game The Last of Us, one can go to Naughty Dog’s blog by clicking here.

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What were your views of seeing the first episode of The Last of Us? Do tell us in the comments below.