diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index febe1cac..d61cd0ac 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ The **"Breaking Changes"** listed below are changes that have been made in the d
 ### Changed
 - The Palette Editor now remembers the Bit Depth setting.
 - The min/max levels on the Wild Pokémon tab will now adjust automatically if they invalidate each other.
+- If the recent project directory doesn't exist Porymap will open an empty project instead of failing with a misleading error message.
 
 ### Fixed
 - Fix text boxes in the Palette Editor calculating color incorrectly.
diff --git a/src/mainwindow.cpp b/src/mainwindow.cpp
index 707e647f..aa5c5296 100644
--- a/src/mainwindow.cpp
+++ b/src/mainwindow.cpp
@@ -484,12 +484,18 @@ bool MainWindow::openRecentProject() {
         return false;
 
     QString default_dir = porymapConfig.getRecentProject();
-    if (!default_dir.isNull() && default_dir.length() > 0) {
-        logInfo(QString("Opening recent project: '%1'").arg(default_dir));
-        return openProject(default_dir);
+    if (default_dir.isNull() || default_dir.length() <= 0)
+        return false;
+
+    if (!QDir(default_dir).exists()) {
+        QString message = QString("Recent project directory '%1' doesn't exist.").arg(QDir::toNativeSeparators(default_dir));
+        logWarn(message);
+        this->statusBar()->showMessage(message);
+        return false;
     }
 
-    return false;
+    logInfo(QString("Opening recent project: '%1'").arg(default_dir));
+    return openProject(default_dir);
 }
 
 bool MainWindow::openProject(QString dir) {