Norman Reedus Is Now Helping UK Gamers Skip Age Checks!?
The UK’s new online age verification laws are already raising eyebrows – and not just because of privacy concerns. Some gamers have figured out how to bypass these facial recognition checks using highly detailed screenshots from games like Death Stranding 2.
Yes, you read that correctly. Players are using Norman Reedus’ in-game face to fool the system – and apparently, it seems to work.
How Is This Even a Thing?
As part of a push to restrict access to adult content online, new age gates now require UK users to upload a selfie for facial analysis. This even includes certain 18+ Discord servers, which now prompt users to verify their age through third-party facial recognition tools.
Still, the system is not as secure as it sounds.
Thanks to Death Stranding’s photo mode, players can snap ultra-detailed portraits of Sam Porter Bridges (aka Norman Reedus) with realistic lighting, varied facial expressions, and even subtle aging effects. These can appear lifelike enough to trick the AI system into thinking it is a real person.
On Reddit, a user shared that the method works not just for Death Stranding 2, but also with Death Stranding: Director’s Cut and other games with photorealistic face models – including Baldur’s Gate 3 and WWE 2K25.
The Reason Gamers Are Doing This
The general consensus of most users is that this is less about trolling and more about pushing back against invasive privacy systems that require uploading personal biometric data just to access certain content online.
Even so, gamers being gamers are turning it into a challenge. Someone on Reddit joked: “We’ve beaten Sekiro on Donkey Kong bongos – of course we’re gonna beat facial ID with Sam’s face.”
It also highlights a real issue: how secure can these new age checks really be if a PlayStation screenshot is enough to pass?
Another Boss Fight for the Community
From controller-breaking boss fights to hardware optimization and meme mods, players are used to working around obstacles. This is just the latest example of that same energy being pointed at real-world systems.
For now, it seems Sam Porter Bridges has a new mission: helping players sneak past awkward verification gates with a smirk.
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