No, the keep-your-character mechanic sabotages a core characteristic of the genre; and the mechanic doesn’t benefit in any way from being paywalled.

You could have locked it behind an in-game challenge or a puzzle, or you could have buried it away subtly as a kind of “assassins creed style memory device”. But instead it’s just a microtransaction.

Its only purpose is to generate money, not provide a meaningful service or enable a unique experience. That’s predatory.