diff --git a/src/app/App.tsx b/src/app/App.tsx
index 271adc18..c3b54d76 100644
--- a/src/app/App.tsx
+++ b/src/app/App.tsx
@@ -3431,7 +3431,7 @@ export function App({ store, initialStatusMessage }: AppProps) {
       try {
         return await loadImageAssetFromStorage(storage, asset);
       } catch (error) {
-        if (await restoreDeletedStoredAsset(storage, asset)) {
+        if (storage !== null && (await restoreDeletedStoredAsset(storage, asset))) {
           return loadImageAssetFromStorage(storage, asset);
         }
 
diff --git a/src/assets/starter-environment-assets.ts b/src/assets/starter-environment-assets.ts
index c62b74ab..b539e948 100644
--- a/src/assets/starter-environment-assets.ts
+++ b/src/assets/starter-environment-assets.ts
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ export function createStarterEnvironmentAssetRegistry(): Record<
 
 export function isStarterEnvironmentImageAsset(
   asset: ProjectAssetRecord | ImageAssetRecord
-): asset is ImageAssetRecord {
+): boolean {
   return (
     asset.kind === "image" &&
     asset.storageKey.startsWith(STARTER_ENVIRONMENT_STORAGE_KEY_PREFIX)
diff --git a/src/serialization/project-package.ts b/src/serialization/project-package.ts
index 3851ed71..1382ce01 100644
--- a/src/serialization/project-package.ts
+++ b/src/serialization/project-package.ts
@@ -346,6 +346,10 @@ export async function loadProjectPackage(
     throw new Error("Project load failed: project asset storage is unavailable for asset-backed scenes.");
   }
 
+  if (storage === null) {
+    return document;
+  }
+
   const packagedAssetRecords = buildStoredAssetRecordsFromPackage(entries, document);
 
   for (const asset of bundledAssets) {
@@ -367,7 +371,10 @@ export async function loadProjectPackage(
         continue;
       }
 
-      previousStoredAssets.set(asset.storageKey, await storage.getAsset(asset.storageKey));
+      previousStoredAssets.set(
+        asset.storageKey,
+        await storage.getAsset(asset.storageKey)
+      );
       await storage.putAsset(asset.storageKey, packagedAsset);
       writtenStorageKeys.push(asset.storageKey);
     }