IMO Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) is a must for every cycle but I'm talking everyone of my cycles.
Yes you can and will recover without. Hell I had cycles with no pct back in the day because we couldnt get the stuff.
After the first pin of test or any AAS, you testes shut down, pituitary stop GnRH and lh/fsh. Hcg=lh. To me, why allow them to be fully dormant when you don't have to. Plus for me, on a long cycle I start to feel on edge, Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) takes that away plus I don't like baby balls. Even if Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (HCG) only kept testes at normal size, that alone speeds recovery because a step in recovery is regaining testicle size.