Can you play without a character guide?

I've seen a lot of recommendations to play following a character build guide but tbh I kind of don't want to unless everyone really thinks its necessary to get good and have fun. I'm sorry for not knowing much about the game I started last night was got hooked.

need to?

No

You should manage to get to the end game without requiring a build guide.

You may still want to "git gud" though, but that can happen after you've had your first go at it.
Though tbh, most people can find out something new about the game even after ten years of playing it.

I would recommend using the Wiki if you are trying to figure out how things work (like evasion)
https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Path_of_Exile_Wiki

Game has so many interconnected mechanics and gotchas that not reading anything is just not realistic to get a clear picture.
Majority of mechanics are deceptively intuitive, because they have underlying quirks that were discovered by players, and making incorrect assumptions about them based on intuition may lead to less optimal play.
But it doesn't mean you have to look into a build guide to have fun, you can do it on your own, sometimes checking other similar builds to learn a thing or two or to fix your misconceptions.
Keep the poe wiki open, and check things you encounter (like first encounter with energy shield, it may seem obvious but there are mechanics with it that you can learn the hard way after investing into it without fully understanding how it works).
Do what's fun, if its fun to you to learn things yourself, experiment and discover, do that, but just be realistic about the sheer amount of features this game has that you would otherwise spend enormous amount of time discovering on your own.

I don't follow builds, but it's been a struggle and took a while to feel 'comfortable' with it. I just don't have fun following them. But whatever road you take research is still key. If you're making your own way, it's still best to look up how a specific mechanic or skill works when it pertains to the build you're crafting.

Also there's an ocean of unique items and specific rare mods on gear to look for that without knowledge of can create a blind spot in improving your build. That shouldn't stop you from having fun, just discover stuff as it comes.

EDIT: I will say the few times I have followed a build, while they were my least favorite seasons, doing so still offered a wealth of knowledge I probably wouldn't have or would've taken much longer to acquire.

Using a build guide is kind of a waste for a game like PoE1, which really rewards figuring builds out «by yourself».

(Not in the sense that you have to figure out everything yourself by trial and error : reading the in-game tutorial / help pages is highly recommended, as well as later using the wiki to understand the gnarliest details.)

Consider also playing in the Ruthless leagues :
Non-Ruthless is if you prefer easier gameplay, at the cost of quickly getting overwhelmed by game mechanics and loot, especially as a new player.

I highly recommend playing a Witch first (spells are easy to understand compared to weapon scaling), Ranger second (ranged is easier than melee), Marauder 3rd (all 3 one-attribute focused).

For your 2nd character (assuming you got to at least Act 4 with the first), get Path of Building (Community fork), but only at that point to easily check the various Ascendancies (= sub-classes) (located there at the margins of the talents tree).

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Bloody_Skull#5293 wrote:

I've seen a lot of recommendations to play following a character build guide but tbh I kind of don't want to unless everyone really thinks its necessary to get good and have fun. I'm sorry for not knowing much about the game I started last night was got hooked.

I've been playing off-and-on since Beta, and I can hardly play without a guide anymore. Too much changes league to league and what I build a year or two ago won't work anymore. If you have to ask if you need a guide, then you need a guide.

Yeah, but I guess that you're an experienced player trying to make very specific builds work in t16/17 Atlas maps ?

While they seem to be a new player just trying to get to the Atlas for the first time ?