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That’s why I think Fallout 4 should be the last Fallout game.Bethesda could easily turn their attention to the next great Fallout sequel, and I have little doubt that it would be another quality adventure. But I hope they don’t. I hope instead they take their immense resources and produce something utterly new: a big, strange, wonderful universe establishing completely new icons and traditions. Fallout 4 oozes creativity, and I’d like to see that same fertile imagination applied to something completely original. I eagerly await another big Bethesda adventure that carries me into a huge, fascinating world I’ve never seen before.Think about what Bioware did, branching out from their D&D roots to create KOTOR and Mass Effect, games which mechanically resembled their bread-and-butter franchises but took place in completely distinctive and fascinating universes. I’d love to see Fallout evolve in a direction similar to that, taking the best lessons of the developers’ open-world expertise and applying it to a different setting.It’s only fair to recognize that there are no guarantees in game development. For every Mass Effect, there’s also a Jade Empire. If Bethesda choose to create an original IP or licensed adaptation instead of a new Fallout game, mistakes could be made. And I don’t deny that making another Fallout sequel makes good business sense. But in my estimation, the potential benefits for all of us who love to play games outweigh the risks.We need more new ideas in video games. Look over your mental list of likely game of the year contenders and you’ll find it populated almost entirely by sequels: Fallout 4, Metal Gear 5, Witcher 3, Mario Maker, Rise of the Tomb Raider. Bethesda consistently populated some of the most engaging interactive universes in gaming history. I hope they take the money and manpower that would go into the next Fallout and lead the charge in inventing something utterly original.Fallout 4’s creators certainly aren’t showing any signs that they’re out of good ideas. The clever plays on history in one of America’s oldest cities made Fallout 4 a rare treat. And I don’t deny that there are plenty of other clever stories you could set in the Falloutiverse. Exploring the ruins of China, the jungles of south America, the orbital space above a ruined planet, these hooks could all be refined into quality game experiences. But as neat as they all these sound, I’d rather the time and resources that would be put toward a project like this be allocated toward something new.When I first floated this editorial around the IGN office, I got some funny looks. We gamers love our franchises. It’s a sentiment that goes going back to the earliest days of video gaming, a chance to experience our favorite worlds and characters embellished with the power of a new hardware generation and enhanced by the refinements of development experience. But I’ve watched too many franchises wither on the vine to think that an endless cycle of sequels is a good thing. In the case of Fallout, Bethesda has treated their property lovingly, refusing to abuse and squander what they’ve built, resisting the temptation to annualize. They have exercised discipline in an era when some other companies are sucking every last drop of blood from their brands.Now, Fallout’s developers have a wonderful opportunity here, a chance to let their invention go out on a high note. I’d like to see this franchise step away from the plate at the height of its game, its creators turning their fertile imaginations and skills toward inventing something inspired by the spirit of Fallout, embracing exploration and player agency but newly and delightfully fantastic.

Jared Petty is a Senior Editor at IGN. He really, really likes Fallout 4. Chat with him on Twitter.