The main issue with the twin paradox is that it demonstrates where our euclidian intuition fails us.
There are several interpretations on how to resolve it, but they are all just flawed lenses, intended to help you along a curriculum until you understand the math, and also understand the limitations of intuition.
The 'turn around' explanation is part of that and unfortunately often sold as the ultimate resolution.
That is awesome, I've always wondered about special relativity in a flat torus world. Do you have a recommendation for reading more about this?
Proper time and proper acceleration is possibly a pathway in flat spacetime?
Learning that the order, timing, and sometimes causality of events is also relative tends to be a barrier, thus some of these didactic half truths are useful.
The "Einstein train paradox" is the classic intro to the relativity of simultaneity if you aren't familiar.
In the SR case, proper acceleration is possibly the better option.
Because I lowekey believe this to be true but don't have means to prove it.