The role-playing title, a collaboration between celebrated Japanese studio FromSoftware and Game Of Thrones creator George RR Martin, held off strong competition to claim the game of the year prize.

Elden Ring is one of the most critically-acclaimed games of all time, boasting a score of 96 on reviews aggregator Metacritic, and has sold more than 17.5 million copies since it launched in February.

FromSoftware has long been an industry darling, but Elden Ring marked the first time its notoriously difficult style of game design found such mainstream success - no doubt helped by Martin's involvement.

However, the team's time in the spotlight at the Los Angeles ceremony was interrupted by an intruder, who burst on stage with a bizarre tribute to "my reformed orthodox rabbi" Bill Clinton.

Geoff Keighley, the show's host and producer, later revealed that the man had been arrested.

God Of War Ragnarok scoops up most awards

Heading into the show, the Norse mythology-themed God Of War Ragnarok had the most nominations with 10.

It ended up winning best narrative, best action/adventure game, best audio design, best score, best performance for voice actor Christopher Judge, and the award for innovation in accessibility.

As well as game of the year, Elden Ring was named best role-playing game, won best art direction, and developer FromSoftware won for best game direction.

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Best independent game went to Stray, a post-apocalyptic adventure in which you play as a cat, which also saw its French creators pick up the gong for best indie debut.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope was the only win featuring gaming's most iconic plumber, as it was named best strategy title, while Moss: Book II topped the virtual reality category.

Best action game went to the long-awaited Bayonetta 3, Gran Turismo 7 took the pole position for sports/racing, while Nintendo won in the multiplayer and family contests with Splatoon 3 and Kirby And The Forgotten Land.

The franchise-spanning phenomenon MultiVersus, which allows players to answer the question of who would win a scrap between Batman and Tom and Jerry, won best fighting game.

Away from the esports categories, Marvel Snap won best mobile game and Final Fantasy XIV was best ongoing, recognising how it's improved since its original launch in 2010.

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Late Batman actor revealed as having one final role

As has been traditional since The Game Awards began in 2014, the ceremony also looked ahead to some of the biggest releases of next year.

Among the announcements were that Idris Elba would star in an upcoming expansion for Cyberpunk 2077, the dystopian title that was infamously pulled from sale following its disastrous launch in 2020.

There were also trailers for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, a sequel to 2019's popular Fallen Order, the next instalment in Capcom's long-running Street Fighter series, and a follow-up to 2018's game of the year nominee Hades.

But most poignantly, it was revealed that late Batman actor Kevin Conroy had recorded one last performance as the caped crusader before his death from cancer last month, aged 66.

He reprises his most iconic role in an upcoming Suicide Squad game, which releases on 26 May.