These are good points. Plus, I've always thought about the Catch-22 of how a movie based on a video game is already going to have a pretty niche audience (in the overall grand scheme of things), and then you run the risk that the changes made in adapting the story to another medium - or as is more likely the case the changes that executives think make the story more appealing to viewers across quadrants and demographics - alienate that already small group of people. This is off-topic, but I think a great example of adapting a story well to another medium is Station Eleven. The book and the series ultimately have some pretty big differences, but it does seem like the changes made to the story were in service of telling a compelling story in an entirely different medium and they didn't just add a bunch of sex and nudity or mindless action or make old characters young sexy teenagers, etc.
Not sure how I feel about the tendril stuff, especially an infected stopping to make out with Tess. Incredibly bizarre choice
Everything we've seen from the infected is they are hyper aggressive and violent. This one stopped, slowly walked towards her and gently pushed some tendrils into her mouth. it was fucking weird
During an episode where they mentioned that all of the cordyceps are connected, obviously that’s why that happened, not one infected deciding “man, that’s one good looking woman, let me kiss her”