thank you for the reply, i am currently running windows 10 professional 22H2, build 19045.2251, all current on patches
provided in the attachment below is a screenshot of how afphoto files display now when affinity photo 2 is the handler for afphoto files next to a rendered image otherwise identical to the file. the only differentiator is a small border that windows adds to image files, which is nowhere near good enough to differentiate in a folder full of photos and takes beside their afphoto counterparts
the previous behaviour displayed an icon for the app in the corner, which was great quality of life so i am baffled as to why it has gone missing in v2
this is also not exclusive to photo 2 - designer & publisher also have gotten rid of the corner icon and these should also be added back as well