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In terms of games that were so advanced they almost feel like they were made by time travellers:
Elite (1984) - procedural open world space sim
Ultima VII (1992) - full NPC schedules, open world and day/night system so you could rob stores at nights, follow people, etc. and awesome exploration. In 1992!
X-COM (1994) - a voxel-based LOS system, destructible environment, z-levels, natural elevation on terrain (deforming the isometric grid), reaction fire, etc.
Daggerfall (1996) - a faction system, procedurally generated areas and quests, a lot of options to get to different areas (climbing, levitation, etc.)
Thief (1998) - a full sound simulation with different materials having different properties, the ability to extinguish torches (dynamic lighting!) and cover metal surfaces, a light system for visibility too (now commonplace).
Baldur's Gate (1998) - a semi open-world AD&D2e implementation - with co-op multiplayer! (most modern games don't manage this)
Deus Ex (2000) - a branching FPS/RPG campaign where choices matter with a basic stealth system and lots of approaches to each level. It was basically a completely modern game out of nowhere in 2000.
Runescape (2001) - one of the first major graphical MMORPGs with a full player economy.
Morrowind (2002) - a fully 3D open world with a lot of options for magic (including custom magic) and exploration.
Hitman 2 (2002) - first stealth-focussed game with a full disguise system, map, etc.
Oblivion (2006) - like Morrowind but with some NPC schedules (like Ultima VII), a stealth system (based on Thief) and Havok physics based traps.
Red Faction: Guerrilla (2009) - fully destructible buildings and environments in an open-world campaign.
Those are the ones that really stick out (also Super Mario and Zelda on consoles, especially the SNES, N64 and recently on the Switch handheld). It's a shame that the rate of progress seems to have slowed down a lot at least in terms of ground-breaking features and simulations.
But who knows maybe Baldur's Gate 3 and Starfield will both be on future lists like this.
Ultima VII really sticks out as just crazy though, that game could have released 10 years later and held up.
I would actually also put KotOR on this list. It was the first game that I can think of that had branching side quests for companions and a relationship system depending on their usage. It was basically the precursor to the Mass Effect system.
Good list. Some extra info on xcom, it is basically a remaster of an 80s 8bit game called Laser Squad.
It's more than a re-master though, Laser Squad was independent missions IIRC? No geoscope
And it also didn't have elevation, etc.? That said, Laser Squad released on the ZX Spectrum so it's incredible as is.