Yes I think that may be correct. In the Move Event command of the event you can tick a box called Skip if Cannot Move and the movement of the event will be skipped if it backs them into a wall for instance, allowing the event to continue as normal without the event continually trying to move onto an impassable tile (like a wall) or an event with a priority Same as Character and freezing up the game.
Thanks for letting me know the player is to step back, it means I know how to continue on now so I'll play again.