Hollow Knight is a metroidvania style video game. What that means is the game is about exploring a handcrafted world that you unlock at your own pace by exploring, finding special upgrades, and defeating bosses.
This opening cimematic introduces the main character, the knight, and creates intrigue for the player as they want to know where the knight is heading and what was going on with the figure in chains. The player is then dropped into the game world where they traverse a tutorial area. This location introduces Hollow Knights core gameplay mechanics of how to fight, parkour and regain health.
At the end of the tutorial you arrive at the town of Dirtmouth. there you encounter a bench and character named elder bug. He tells the player of a mysterious kingdom , under the town well, full of secrets. Going down this well takes the player to the Forgotten crossroads. the bench is where you can equip charms, heal back to full, save your progress, and is where you respawn when you die.