Yeah, it does, but what are you missing exactly? Can you not get to the final boss without the DLC? No, you can get to the boss no problem, and in fact going to DLC biomes sometimes means you can’t get to the final biome/boss. Is your playtime reduced to less chambers/run? Nope, the number of chambers and biome-bosses remain the same. Is the gameplay altered? Nope, all runes and weapons that you need to finish the game is there in the base game and unlockable.

I know, because I played the base game only until the Dead Cells Castlevania PS5 collection came out.

You’re being disingenuous in making it seem like they purposefully cut content and then added it back for $$$, when Evil Empire has been adding a lot of free updates to the base game since 2019.