It's pretty mindblowing, esp. if you like the HL series. And the new Quest is only $299 man ... With a bit of fiddling it can be totally wirelessly connected to the PC (not technically supported but there's a fully-working hack).
I know exactly what you mean though ... although I remember a lot of WOW moments circa 2004-2006 when DX9 came out ...
Specifically:
Oblivion, Far Cry, Half Life 2, F.E.A.R., Prey
First Deus Ex was amazeballs too a few years earlier I will admit. The last two have been pretty cool too ... Human Revolution and Mankind Divided. I liked em enuf to finish them, put it like that. Cool stories, and if you like the first one you should like these too. Human Revolution in particular is a REAL good game.
The two Dishonored games are also very worth playing, they have some cool new-ish mechanics. And the stories, and the levels ... very cool.
I also LOVED the 2018 version of Prey. Yes, it's just the sort of thing you're complaining about but it's a killer sci-fi story, fun weapons, and environments is sweet. The grind is fairly minimal and actually pretty fun. I've played it through 3 times, have over 200 hours in it.
The 2 newest Hitman games since the reboot have been cool too.
= new reply since forum marked as read