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Alien invasion rhythm oddity Gal Metal gets a November release date on Switch

Drumming up interest.

Developer DMM Games has announced that Gal Metal, its endearingly bizarre rock improv rhythm experience, will launch on Switch next month, on November 2nd.

Gal Metal first came to Switch earlier this year in Japan, and it's the kind of surreal, high-concept oddity that doesn't always make the journey west. If you strip away the strangeness around its alien invasion storyline though, Gal Metal is actually a fairly straightforward - if idiosyncratic - rhythm game, asking players to bash along (using Joy-Cons, Pro Controller, or touchscreen) on imaginary drums.

Progress is made by accruing points, which are earned by learning increasingly complex drum lines then stringing them together in time with the music. However, there's a firm emphasis on improvisation and free-form musicianship, meaning that Gal Metal plays out more like Nintendo's sorely under-appreciated (I still maintain) Wii Music rather than, say, Guitar Hero.

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Gal Metal will be available to purchase digitally on November 2nd in the UK (it arrives slightly earlier in the US, on October 30th) and will be accompanied by the Encore Pack DLC expansion. This adds five new characters to the base game, each with their own unique songs and story episodes. Launch day also brings the Gal Metal: World Tour Edition - a physical release which bundles together the main game and DLC onto a single Switch cartridge.

No prices have been given yet, but we should know more when Gal Metal and the Encore Pack are made available for digital pre-order on October 18th.