Virtual Pet Simulation Games
Simulation here means one of two quite different things, and it is worth separating them before you pick.
The first is the animal simulator proper: you play as the creature, in an open world, with hunger and predators and a family to build. These are the longest games on the site and the only ones where movement itself is most of the pleasure. A session is measured in how far you got rather than in levels cleared.
The second is the management simulator — a hotel, a shop, a zoo. Here you are not the animal but the operator, and the loop is service, income, expansion. These reward returning rather than sitting: the operation earns while you are away.
Both sit under the same heading because they share an absence of levels. Neither one ends; you stop when you are done.
Questions about this section
Do I play as the animal or as the owner?
Both exist here — the open-world simulators put you in the animal's place, while the management ones make you the operator.
Do these games have an ending?
No. Neither type is built around levels, so a session ends when you decide rather than when a counter runs out.