Fun ride. Some puzzles bring it down and the quirky rants/story twists range from interesting to boring. Characters are nice and memorable. Didn't hate any of them. That's a blessing in a story like this.
Voice acting in the steam version is fantastic (okay not a fan of Junpei tbh).

I didn't have to use a guide once but I certainly got close a few times. They give you a calculator to use in-game but you can't open it during puzzles...? I think? Useless.

I'm also not really a fan of replaying certain parts to get some true ending, it made certain events blend together and confusing when nearing the end. I wish the different branches were more distinct/interesting. Even when the branches DO feel unique and provide some answers, they feel the need to re-spell it out on the true ending path. I'd prefer if it was just 1 route with player choice being different doors- any bad end resulted in re-doing the last pivotal choice or whatever.
Still, I enjoyed the world of 999 and I am excited to play VLR soon.