Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Casually Namedrops the Classic Indy Disneyland Ride

Bethesda and MachineGames are carving out a place in Disney history with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but the upcoming action-adventure spinoff will also include at least one reference to a more obscure (at least on the big-screen) story from the franchise’s world.

Bethesda revealed a new look at the Wolfenstein developer’s latest during a trailer shown at the gamescom Opening Night Live presentation yesterday. It’s a video that confirmed a release date of December 9, 2024, for PC and Xbox Series X | S, while also revealing that PlayStation 5 players will be able to join in on the adventure next spring. In between shots of Indiana punching nazis and solving ancient puzzles, X/Twitter user @tylerllewtaing noticed that the footage briefly namedrops the location featured in Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure, the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.

Indy has visited all sorts of distant lands… https://t.co/Dc3Zr8nX3m

— Bethesda (@bethesda) August 21, 2024

Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye opened in the ‘90s and sees park attendees immerse themselves in the world of Harrison Ford’s legendary adventurer. It involves exploring abandoned areas, uncovering long-forgotten treasures, and coming face to face with powerful, magical forces. It’s a Pirates of the Caribbean-style ride that has guests tag along on a classic Indy adventure, and it’ll be mentioned, at least in some form, in Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

Bethesda did officially acknowledge the cute reference, though it’s unclear if players will actually be able to visit or interact with the temple in-game in any way. While MachineGames hasn’t gone as far as to outright confirm the extent to which the Temple of the Forbidden Eye is included, fans were quick to speculate and hope for a full-on tie-in.

Holy crap!!

Indiana Jones and The Temple of The Forbidden Eye is “technically” canon now from the popular attraction at #Disneyland in Adventureland, is reference in the upcoming #IndianaJonesAndTheGreatCircle game coming Dec. 9th!! 😱🤯‼️#DisneyParks#IndianaJones#Xbox pic.twitter.com/a2LiQRKxRC

— Brian Saeger (@SkywalkerBrian) August 21, 2024

If there’s an entire segment that’s the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, I will literally pass out. This has been one of my most anticipated games for YEARS

— Brett (@KeybladeBrett) August 21, 2024

i’m like one of the 5 people that cares about this game being good so they did this for me I fear

— tyler “llewyn” taing (@tylerllewtaing) August 20, 2024

We learned more about how MachineGames will explore a new corner of the Indiana Jones universe yesterday, but there’s still so much yet to be revealed. We took an even closer look at the Great Circle recently and shared our findings in a hands-off preview that you can read here. While we wait for more news ahead of its winter launch, you can read up on everything else announced at gamescom Opening Night Live 2024.

Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He started writing in the industry in 2017 and is best known for his work at outlets such as The Pitch, The Escapist, OnlySP, and Gameranx.

Be sure to give him a follow on Twitter @MikeCripe.