Multithreading (async / await?)
Static types
Generics (nullable)
Controls / Widgets / Components which probably means classes and OOP (see flutter and web components)
Makros
Message Senders / Receivers instead of raw properties (smalltalk, Objective-C)
Package manager
Good tooling
Comments
Maybe...
Why “maybe”? OP asked for must-have features—-am interested in what you could omit and why?