But because this one pushes the relationship as a part of the game play, everyone fucking suddenly hates it…
Yup. This might be what makes the difference. Misogyny is still the root issue, of course, but players have to deal with a woman as a main character with agency instead of as a subservient sex object and they don't like it.
As far as "woke" goes, pretty nuts to say strong women engaging in criminal activity are a political fabrication and not, you know, an actual reality. See: cocaine kingpin (queenpin?) Griselda Blanco: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griselda_Blanco