Yes, the v53 files are required to play - these are updated occasionally and if you're out of date you'll see that message on the character select screen.
That said, when installing these patches be sure you're not replacing the folders themselves with what's in the patch zip as the folders in the patch only contain the changed files - you still need the non-changed files in order for the game to work. I'd recommend reinstalling, then copy the contents of the v53 patch and only overwrite existing files (not folders).
-Mcoy
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