I just wrapped up my first playthrough of BioWare’s excellent “Dragon Age: Origins” (rated M, $60 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, $50 for PC), and I knew the next two games from 2009 I wanted to play were “Demon’s Souls” and “Batman: Arkham Asylum.”

I wasn’t sure how I was going to decide what to play first, but then Atlus, the U.S. publisher of “Demon’s Souls” (rated M, $60 on PS3) decided for me. Until Dec. 28 (that’s next Monday), the game’s notoriously fierce difficulty level is going to be ramped down a bit, with the game’s “world tendency” set to “pure white.” This means enemies will be a bit easier to kill, but also reward players with fewer rewards than we’d normally get.

For folks like me, who are just getting to the punishing RPG, or who get the game as a holiday gift, that’s a boon. It’s better to ease your way into a game that expects you to die, die again and, when you’re done with that, die some more. I got slaughtered half a dozen times last night. “Batman: Arkham Asylum” (rated T, $60 on Xbox 360 or PS3, $50 on PC) will have to wait another day, as will “Silent Hill: Shattered Memories” (rated M, $50 on Wii, $30 on PS2 or PSP).

Thanks to Wired’s GameLife blog for writing about this, or I might not have known.