Some of the controversies around this title may have some ground in reality, but they are a bit overblown IMO.
The game has microtransactions. As they are implemented, I don't think they are going to bother most players at all. You really can just enjoy the game, do your stuff, and you won't even remember they are there: you won't find any progress blockers if you do even occasional side activities, and you wouldn't like to miss them, since side quests arguably contain some of the best content in the game. You really don't need to do any of the filler stuff such as automatically generated contracts, conquest battles, or quests/forts which are not on your quests. That being said, I'm sure there is a group of players who would enjoy or need those boosters, Ubi added them to the game, so I'm sure they expect to sell at least some. The thing is, they are a solution for a problem that shouldn't exist, regardless of the fact that the problem may not affect a majority of gamers. For some, the game would have been better without their presence. That doesn't make this game into the next FIFA or mobile cash-grab experience, though. There is a huge difference between selling a fairly unnecessary, permanent progress boost, and blocking the player with constant paywalls and deceiving loot boxes.
The politics/SJW stuff certainly has some influence in the game (the first thing you see when you start the game is an identity politics disclaimer). The traditional gender roles you'd expect are completely missing from this ancient Greece tale, for example. But then again, this game is more like a fantasy world loosely based on ancient Greece, and the pretense of historical accuracy is more like window dressing. Things like slavery, politics, battles, architecture, ships or geography are also completely misrepresented, sometimes following the rule of cool, other times because they would get in the way of the story they wanted to tell, other times probably not on purpose. But there is zero pandering or lecturing in the game IMHO. I'd even argue politics had little influence in the main story (you start the game, choose to be a woman, and get punched in the face in the first cutscene).