The recent Demon's Souls remake has received tons of press, especially since there's a devoted horde of fans of the cult classic who's been waiting to get their hands on it. In addition, there are huge groups of Souls series fans who have been too intimidated by this entry to attempt it.
That being said, there are definitely a few major changes that have happened, and as such, some weapons might not quite rank where they did in the original version of the game. Today, we'll be ranking all of those weapon types according to the utility in the remake specifically.
9 Fist Weapons
There are 3 fist weapons in Demon's Souls, which include the claws, Hands Of God, and Iron Knuckles. The advantages and disadvantages of fist weapons are fairly self-explanatory based on the nature of the weapons themselves. The weapons all vary in damage and stamina use but at the same time, the range of any of these weapons is an absolute joke, but they're incredibly quick and do high damage. They can be useful in niche situations, but not so much in others.
8 Hammers
If you pick a hammer, you know what you want, and what you want is to make BIG HAMMER SMASH LITTLE THING BECAUSE ME STRONG. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a hammer build, but with the weight of the weapon, it's very likely to lead to little to no rolling capability, which can be a bit of a handicap considering everyone knows when it comes to Souls games, rolling is the name of the game. This is a totally viable option, but the player should know ahead of time that they won't be an acrobat.
7 Bows
Generally, bows are a complete necessity in Demon's Souls, or at least some sort of ranged weapon, whatever that be depending on your build. In specific, the Compound Longbow does a great job at doing actually decent damage from afar, which is indispensable for hard-to-reach enemies or to pull aggro selectively.
Another good thing to know is that the high strength of 22 is technically wrong since you two-hand it, and therefore it only requires 15 strength.
6 Axes
Axes are pretty much the go-to if you're trying to play a strength build, but at the same time, with the heavy armor and shield you're wearing, it's probably for the better that you don't go full warhammer. Axes are probably best for people who want to go for strength weapons and not focus on dexterity, but would also like to go without fat-rolling for the sake of being able to max out their armor, rather than essentially building themselves like Havel from Dark Souls.
5 Crossbows
Crossbows are definitely a great option at the very least to have available to the player. Whether one goes for Bows or Crossbows doesn't really matter too much outside of stylistic choices, but if the player has the ability to due to leveling up their Dexterity stat, they should definitely have one of these on hand. It can be used for pulling a particularly tough enemy or sniping people out of the way one-by-one so they won't have to deal with the melee damage later.
4 Casting Instruments
Casting instruments fulfill a very interesting role in the game, allowing for the use of both Miracles and Magic, two different types of magical abilities within the game. The main implements to be used in casting these two classes of spells are Talismans and Catalysts.
These can each but put to great use, but it's probably recommended for later than the first playthrough, just given that it's easier to pick up a hammer or a greatsword than it is to learn the scaling and class system to use these effectively.
3 Swords
Swords are kind of the go-to weapons in most fantasy titles, and with the range that shows up in Demon's Souls, there's really no need whatsoever to upset that balance. With such a wide variety present in the game, it only makes sense that one would only go outside of this style of weapon if they had mastered the sword, or if they were looking for a unique style of play altogether. While the sword excels at some things, it's more of a jack-of-all-trades and master of none type of situation.
2 Daggers
Daggers are pretty much the perfect all-around weapon for anyone who doesn't want something as unwieldy as a polearm but also doesn't want to constantly be swinging their sword against walls. While the weapon might not have the greatest range in the game, anyone who's going to bring a dagger into a boss fight (or any fight for that matter) isn't going to assume that they're going to get away without any damage. The best strategy here is to get in quick, and get out. If that isn't gonna work, it might be a good choice to switch to another weapon your stats scale with.
1 Polearms
Whenever someone first wants to get introduced into the Souls series, the first thing they're likely to be recommended either by friends or by people online is invariably going to be polearms, and that's not without a good reason. While they don't necessarily pack the most punch, and this class of weapons isn't really filled with the most flashy of weapons if you wanna up your "fashion-souls" game, they excel at portability and perhaps most importantly, they aren't going to get stuck on walls left and right the way other weapons will.