Yes, it still uses them on (certain types of) external drives (in certain types of folders) and in folders that already have them from a previous version of Windows (sometimes), but nowhere to the extent that it used to use them (because there now is a central cache for most of them), and nowhere near the extent that macOS uses .DS_Store.

ETA: All of which is why my first post said "most drives"...

It didn't "switch back", it just uses them in certain compatibility and/or external drive situations. I hedged with "most drives" for a reason.